28663: (news) Chamberlain: Clashes between gangs, troops in Haiti, 2 killed (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 20 (Reuters) - Two gunmen were shot to
death on Thursday as gangs continued to battle Haitian police and U.N.
troops in the troubled Caribbean nation, authorities said.
     The gunfights took place near the Cite Soleil slum not far from
Haiti's international airport, the same area where several people died in
gunfire on Wednesday.
     "They (gunmen) attacked us. We returned fire and two were killed,"
said Frantz Lerebours, a spokesman for the Haitian police. "We are not
going to surrender the country to bandits."
     He said one police officer was wounded during the clashes. A U.N.
spokeswoman said no peacekeepers were hurt.
     Five people died on Wednesday in similar incidents. Four were killed
in Port-au-Prince and a policeman was gunned down in the northern city of
Gonaives.
     Haiti suffered nearly two years of political and gang violence
following the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in early 2004.
U.N. peacekeeping troops were sent to restore security after Aristide was
pushed from power by a bloody rebellion.
     But the violence died down just before the poorest country in the
Americas held new elections in February, when former Aristide ally Rene
Preval won the presidency.
     Authorities could offer no immediate explanation for the surge in
gunfire and kidnappings in recent days. At least nine people were abducted
on Wednesday, according to police sources and radio reports.
     Two U.S. missionaries who had been abducted on Sunday were released on
Thursday after a ransom was paid, authorities said.