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Gunmen kill Haitian who worked for police
11 novembre 2004
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti_Gunmen killed a civilian who worked for the police department in Haiti’s capital and tried to burn his body in an attack following more than a month of sporadic street clashes, police said Wednesday.
The employee, Dominique Mirthyl, was shot Tuesday night several blocks from the National Palace, police spokeswoman Gessy Coicou said. Mirthyl, an air-conditioning technician employed by police, was driving a police vehicle at the time. The vehicle was torched, and his body was partially burned, Coicou said.
Witnesses told police he was killed while gunmen ran through the streets firing into the air, burning cars, and sending pedestrians scattering.
The shooting followed earlier killings by police. Coicou said two men were killed by police during shootouts Saturday, and another during gunbattles Monday who possessed a gun belonging to a slain police officer.
At least 84 have been killed in the capital of Port-au-Prince since Sept. 30, when police reportedly fired on protesters demanding the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, killing two. The beheaded bodies of three police were found the next day.
Aristide left the country Feb. 29 amid a bloody revolt and is now in exile in South Africa.
Since March, some 26 police have been killed in Haiti, Coicou said.
Meanwhile, rebels who led the revolt against Aristide remain armed and control parts of the countryside. Ex-soldiers who were among the rebels have been pressing for the government to reconstitute the army that Aristide disbanded in 1995.
On Sunday, one group of ex-soldiers briefly detained a riot police officer, disarmed him and removed his badge, Coicou said. It was unclear why.
She said 200 ex-soldiers have been recently incorporated into the 3,000-member police force, which struggles to keep order even with the help of more than 5,000 U.N. peacekeepers.
Leading human rights activist Pierre Esperance said Tuesday that Haitian police have detained more than 20 prison guards on suspicion of involvement in an alleged plot to kill prisoners affiliated with Aristide.
Police declined comment on which offenses the prison guards committed.
Coicou denied Haitian radio reports that they were behind a plot to kill imprisoned former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune.
Meanwhile, 160 Haitians were repatriated Wednesday and were being interviewed by authorities after the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted them at sea, trying to leave the country illegally on three boats.