Worshippers murdered

Press, 13 September 1988, Page 8

Worshippers murdered

NZPA-Reuter

Port-au-Prince

Men wielding machetes and guns burst into a Catholic church in a slum area of Port-au-Prince, killing at least three people, injuring 60 others and setting the church on fire.

Witnesses said army troops and trucks had surrounded the church in the morning but did not intervene until noon, three hours after the attack began. The street where the church is located was blocked off. The attackers, believed to be former members of the dreaded Tonton Macoutes secret police, went on to rampage through two Opposition political party offices elsewhere in Haiti’s capital. About 50 attackers broke in during a morning mass at St Jean Bosco Church in the Port-au-Prince slum area of La Saline at 9 a.m., eyewitnesses and radio reports said. They splashed petrol round the church and set it on fire, the witnesses said. The victims of the attack were taken to Port-au-Prince general hospital. Officials said at least 60 were wounded but gave no information on deaths.

Reporters arriving on the scene were stopped by police from entering the church but reported that the roof had caved in and

the building was largely destroyed.

Attack victims were taken to hospital by the Red Cross, which refused to estimate the number wounded or killed.

The target of the attacks appeared to be the Reverend Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a radical liberation theology priest with a wide following in Port-au-Prince.

Church sources said Father Aristide escaped the attackers and was in a safe place. Radio reports said at least three were killed as the men entered the church hacking and slashing, and witnesses said they believed more could have died in the blaze.

“The men were wearing red arm bands and chanting ‘we will drink their blood’,” a young woman told Reuters.

A Reuter journalist later saw six men leaving the offices of leading Haitian Opposition politician, Silvio Claude, after they had destroyed the premises. The six then went on to the headquarters of the National Agricultural Party of the veteran politician, Louis Dejoie, and attacked it. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Both party headquarters are in the centre of town, across from the National Palace.