Kidnappers free Haitian children but others abducted

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Dec 15 (Reuters) Kidnappers freed seven children snatched two days ago from a school bus in the Haitian capital but several other children were abducted in the latest wave of kidnappings-for-ransom, police said today.

''The children were released on Thursday night. ... They are fine,'' said Henri Dossous, the police commissioner in charge of the anti-kidnapping unit. ''The ransom collected by the families was paid to the kidnappers.'' No arrests were made in the case and police would not reveal the amount of the ransom paid.

As many as seven other children were kidnapped in separate incidents yesterday, according to witnesses and local media.

Police confirmed that several children had been abducted.

In a new twist to the rash of kidnappings that have plagued the impoverished Caribbean nation in recent weeks, children were being targeted because they offered no resistance and their families were more likely to pay quickly, police said.

The abduction of children appeared to have struck a nerve with Haitians. Residents of the capital helped police in door-to-door searches for the kidnap victims this week and authorities reported a sharp rise in calls from the public with information on the case.

About 100 kidnappings for ransom were reported last month and at least 60 have occurred so far this month, including that of a 6-year-old boy who was killed.

The kidnappings are still more bad news for Haiti nearly three years after then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was driven into exile by a violent rebellion.

UN peacekeepers have done little to reduce violence since they arrived in June 2004 although Haiti enjoyed a brief period of relative peace after President Rene Preval won elections in February.

REUTERS AB BD2118