Gunmen stormed the National Palace in Haiti before dawn yesterday in an apparent coup attempt against the President, Mr Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but were foiled after a shoot-out with security forces, officials and witnesses said.
"We have the palace under control," the chief of palace security, Mr Oriel Jean Baptiste said. "One of the attackers is dead, some are in custody, and some have fled." Two policemen guarding the palace were also killed, witnesses said.
Mr Aristide and his family were asleep at their private home at the time and were safe, palace sources said.
The action took place against a background of growing unrest in the Caribbean nation, which has a bloody history of political violence but has been relatively stable under the rule of the populist Mr Aristide.
Anti-government sentiment has been rising, a dispute with the opposition has held up desperately needed international aid, and rumours that a coup might be attempted against Mr Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, have been circulating.
There was no immediate word of to whom the gunmen were affiliated, although suspicion fell on members of the former military.
The army, which ruled the country of 8 million people in brutal fashion for several years in the 1980s and 1990s, was disbanded after US intervention in 1994 which restored Mr Aristide to power following an earlier coup.
Mr Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, draws much of his support from Haiti's poor and is disliked by the elite.
As word spread of the apparent coup attempt yesterday, thousands of ordinary Haitians, some armed with machetes, poured into the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince and set tyres ablaze in a show of support for Mr Aristide.
"Turn them [the gunmen] over to us, we know what to do with them!" screamed a young man holding onto the palace gate.
Security forces took up positions in the area.
"The president is in control," the Communications Minister, Mr Guy Paul, said on a mid-morning broadcast on Radio Solidarite, adding: "The Haitian government condemns violence and asks the population to stay peacefully mobilised." Private radio Haiti-Inter said later that police had captured seven gunmen.