Three policemen shot dead in 'army loyalty' shootings

Three Haitian policemen have been killed after six camouflaged men stormed a police academy and a jail, demanding loyalty to the country's disbanded army.

They pulled up at the suburban Petionville academy in an all-terrain vehicles and headed for the barracks, spraying them with gunfire.

The Petionville police academy was once used to train the Haitian army, which President Jean-Bertrand Aristide replaced with a national civilian police.

The attackers seized senior officer Eddy Cantave from one dormitory, and forced him to lead them to a SWAT team compound, where heavy arms are stored.

Cantave, who was found with his hands bound, was shot and killed at the compound.

The gunmen also killed a cadet and an officer on guard duty at the compound.

Four other officers were wounded by gunfire in the attack, which ended around at sunrise.

It was unclear if the attackers stole any weapons.

The gunmen were apparently the same who attacked a Petionville police lockup about a mile and a half away earlier on Saturday.

They threatened to kill 21 inmates if they didn't say "long live the army," said Patricia Barrieu, who sells food to the prisoners. None of the prisoners was harmed or released.

Employees at the academy and jail gave similar descriptions, saying the six men were wearing camouflage.

The army ousted the former government of Aristide in a bloody 1991 coup. In 1994, a US military invasion restored Aristide to power and he disbanded the military, creating the police force.

In April, opposition leaders led nearly 1,000 former members of the dismantled army in a peaceful march through the streets of the capital. The former soldiers have called for the reestablishment of the army and an end to what they called Aristide's dictatorship.