PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 28: At least eight bodies lay in the streets of the Haitian capital on Saturday after a day of violence blamed on supporters of embattled President Jean Bertrand Aristide.

All eight appeared to have been shot in the head execution style during Friday's violence, which continued late into the night and abated only after Aristide, under heavy international pressure, urged his backers in a televised address not to take the law into their own hands.

In Port-au-Prince's Carrefour suburb, five young men lay dead on the ground, and another two lifeless bodies could be seen near a cemetery in the Petionville neighbourhood.

Outside the capital's main hospital, a blindfolded man lay face down in a pool of blood, after having been shot in the head. A small group of onlookers crowded around the body, murmuring about a swath of green cloth that had been used to bind his arms behind his back.

None of the onlookers could identify the corpse, and they were reticent to speculate about the circumstances of his death.

Also in Carrefour, staff said the Adventist Hospital was stormed on three occasions during the night by armed Aristide supporters, who stole money and medicine and had one of their own men treated.

Sporadic gunfire sounded out during the night, as police were nowhere to be seen and an independent radio station was forced off the air after gunmen fired into its studios.

"Following the attack, it was technically impossible to continue broadcasting," said Leopold Berlanger, director of Radio Vision 2000. He said the radio station had been fired at twice during the night.

On Saturday morning, pedestrians were back on the streets in the garbage-strewn city center, still damp and steamy from a night of heavy rain that may have also contributed to the diminished gang violence. A modest police presence - mainly uniformed officers in unmarked cars - was visible. But there were virtually no cars on the roads and the atmosphere remained tense as the capital braced for a threatened imminent attack by rebels seeking to oust Aristide, who claim to have surrounded Port-au-Prince.

Barricades set up by Aristide's supporters to thwart a rebel advance were unmanned on Saturday, and while gang members loitered around the downtown area and near the airport, they appeared to have heeded the president's calls for restraint.

"We all listened to the president," said a young man near the airport who identified himself as "Boss Tom" and was drinking local rum from a small bottle with about 10 friends.

"There was a lot of noise and fighting last night, but now it's quiet," he said.

Still, the group, who watched through a fence as two US military planes were unloaded on the tarmac by heavily armed men, said they would be ready to take to the streets again to defend Aristide.

"Cinq ans, cinq ans," they chanted, using a popular slogan that refers to Aristide remaining in office until February 2006, the end of his five-year term.

Friday's orgy of violence had prompted a stern rebuke from the US embassy here, which accused the gangs of pillage, arson and murder and demanded that Aristide rein them in.

"Mr. Aristide must understand that his honour, legacy and reputation are now at stake," the embassy said in a statement.

Shortly after it was released, Aristide took to the airwaves to again reject demands for his resignation but also to urge his supporters to curb the violence.

"I call on the young people to report to the police, but do not replace them," Aristide said. "It is necessary to come together to defend democracy firmly and peacefully." -AFP