Haiti's second city under rebel attack

Rebel forces attacked Haiti's second-largest city Cap-Haitien yesterday and fought furious street gunbattles to take the city in their revolt to oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "There's shooting all around in the streets and there are rumors the...

Rebel forces attacked Haiti's second-largest city Cap-Haitien yesterday and fought furious street gunbattles to take the city in their revolt to oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"There's shooting all around in the streets and there are rumors the airport has been taken," a spokesman for the World Food Programme said after the UN agency contacted its Cap-Haitien office.

Residents of the northern city of 500,000 people, which had so far held out against the two-week revolt, said trucks carrying rebels in military fatigues raced through the streets, and unconfirmed reports said its airport had been overrun.

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