AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Dec 18, SPA-- Rebel ex-soldiers and armed residents attacked U.N. peacekeepers and Haitian police in several provincial towns. At least two rebels were wounded in shootouts. Armed civilians lit bonfires of tires to block a road in the southwestern town of Petit Goave on Saturday, a day after shooting into the air and hurling rocks at Sri Lankan peacekeepers who tried to wrest control of a police station from rebels, said Elisee Sincere, a reporter with local Radio Vision 2000 who witnessed the confrontation. The U.N. troops were forced to retreat, Sincere said. U.N. officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the situation in Petit Goave, and it was unclear if anyone was hurt. The Sri Lankan troops managed to gain control of another police station in the outskirts of Petit Goave, where rebels put up no resistance, Sincere said. Petit Goave is one of several provincial towns still under control of rebels who ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February and who are refusing to lay down their weapons. The rebels include members of the army which first ousted Aristide in 1991 as well as convicted criminals and others accused of killings, rapes and torture under the 1991-1994 military regime. Haitian police fought off rebels who attacked a police station in the southern town of Miragoane, said Gessy Coicou, a spokeswoman for the national police. Two rebels were injured in the shootout, Coicou told Radio Vision 2000 on Saturday. Police arrested three rebels, including the two were hurt, she said. In the western town of Arcahaie, rebels raided a police station, throwing officers to the ground and seizing their guns, said Dan Moskaluk, a spokesman for the 1,300-member U.N. police force. But the rebels left the station after believing that U.N. peacekeepers were heading over to regain control of the situation, he said. He said he didn't know if peacekeepers ever arrived. Rebels forced police to flee the central town of Mirebalais on Friday night, though U.N. peacekeepers from a nearby base quickly regained control, said Rafael Joachim, a regional government representative.
