Heavily armed gunmen crashed a stolen tractor through the wall of a provincial prison in Haiti, freeing a former supporter of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and dozens of criminals.
Amiot Metayer was released after being charged with burning down houses of a rival gang in May - charges he denies.
The gunmen used a stolen tractor to ram their way through the prison wall and one prisoner was shot and killed inside the jail, he said. It was unclear who killed him. Some 159 of the 221 inmates got away.
He has not been charged for his role in violence following a December 17 armed attack on the National Palace in Port-au-Prince.
In a letter to Aristide this week, Metayer bitterly accused the president of causing his arrest.
Ironically, among the prisoners who broke free on Friday were former soldiers convicted of the 1994 killings of civilians accused of supporting Aristide in Gonaives' seaside shantytown of Raboteau. The soldiers said they were hunting for Metayer.
Escaped convicts included former army Capt. Cenafis Castera and street activist Jean Tatoune, who were serving life sentences. At least 15 civilians were slain in Raboteau, after a military coup ousted Aristide. He was restored by an American invasion months later.
In Gonaives on Friday, authorities said police retreated from the town as the freed prisoners took over the streets.
The band of gunmen struck before noon in the town that is just 62 miles Metayer's supporters have been demanding his release since his arrest on July 2, blocking traffic with flaming tyre barricades and shooting into the air and at police patrols.
At least 10 people died in what Aristide claims was an attempt to overthrow the government and assassinate him on December 17. The OAS agrees with opposition claims the coup was staged. The opposition says it was a pretext to clamp down on dissidents.
AP