Haitian shot dead by US troops
A man has been shot dead in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince after US marines opened fire on an approaching car.
The US military in a statement on Tuesday said the shooting took place on the main road to the international airport near an industrial complex as the car sped toward the checkpoint.
“Last night, two Marines at a checkpoint at the light industrial complex fired at a vehicle approaching their checkpoint at high speed,” US army spokesman Sergeant Timothy Edwards said.
“One Haitian male was killed and one was injured. The one injured was injured in an accident that followed the firing on the vehicle,” he said.
US Marines Colonel Mark Gurganus said the action of the speeding vehicle had clearly shown “hostile intent”.
Second killing
The death was the second attributed to US forces in Haiti in two days. On Sunday, US Marines opened fire on gunmen who they said had shot at them.
US marines are leading the international security force seeking to re-establish order in Haiti after president Jean-Bertrand Aristide left the country on 29 February.
Lawyers of the exiled Aristide have in the meanwhile called on the US attorney-general to investigate the “kidnapping and forced exit” of the Haitian president.
Lawyer Ira Kurzban said he had written to US Attorney General John Ashcroft seeking a congressional investigation and the prosecution of US officials he accused of engineering a coup d’etat in Haiti.
Aristide, currently in exile in Central African Republic, has accused the US and France of kidnapping him and forcing him to leave the country.