Death toll from violence rises in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Violence in Haiti’s capital has claimed at least 46 lives, with hospital records showing Tuesday that 17 victims were shot and killed this week. Many shops and markets remained closed as hulks of torched cars and bonfires of tires smoldered in the streets.

Port-au-Prince has been beset by gunbattles and beheadings since a Sept. 30 demonstration marking the 1991 coup that first overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In February, the former priest fled the country again after a three-week revolt led by a street gang and former soldiers.

Tensions still are simmering, with Aristide supporters demanding his return and an end to the “invasion” by foreign troops. U.S. Marines arrived in Haiti the day Aristide left and were replaced by U.N. peacekeepers sent in June to stabilize the country.

Rebels who want the interim government to formally reinstate the army Aristide disbanded have accused the peacekeepers of doing little to halt the violence and say they are ready to end it.

On Monday, as mourners gathered for the funeral of five assassinated police officers, gunfire crackled around the capital and businesses shut their doors again.

Records at Port-au-Princes’ hospital seen by the Associated Press showed that 17 people with gunshot wounds died Monday, eight of them in the Cite Soleil seaside slum that is filled with Aristide supporters and street gangs, and three in Martissant, a western neighborhood that has been a flashpoint in the recent unrest. That raised the toll to at least 46 killed since Sept. 30.