Twenty killed in gang fighting in Haitian slum

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 8 (Reuters) About 20 people died in clashes between rival gangs fighting a turf war in one of the Haitian capital's violent slums, a senior police official said.

Michael Lucius, director of the judicial police, said the bloodletting occurred Thursday night and early yesterday in the Martissant neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, where the victims died of gunshot wounds or were hacked to death with machetes.

''We have sent a team to the scene of the incidents and about 20 deaths are reported,'' Lucius told Reuters, saying he was still waiting for a detailed report.

''We are doing all we can to try to control this situation,'' he added.

It was not immediately clear if those killed in Martissant were gang members or residents caught in the cross-fire from the latest outbreak of violence in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

One of the armed groups engaged in the violence, known as ''Lame Ti Manchet'', Haitian creole for Small Machetes Army, was formed over the past 1-1/2 years under the interim administration that replaced former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted in a 2004 revolt.

The group is widely believed to have cooperated at times with elements of the Haitian police in crackdowns on groups loyal to Aristide in Martissant.

Reuters PDS VP0640