Port-au-Prince, May 18 (RHC-NNN) -- Gunmen stormed a police station in southern Haiti, leaving at least six dead in a shoot-out and a related accident in an apparent uprising attempt days after the volatile country missed a deadline to sign in a new president.

The police chief for Haiti’s southern region, Luc Pierre, said gunmen in military fatigues on Monday attacked at night in the coastal city of Les Cayes. They seized automatic weapons and killed a policeman, before officers shot one of them dead.

Suspicions over Monday’s attack turned to Guy Philippe, a former coup leader wanted by US authorities on cocaine trafficking charges. He had this year threatened with an uprising against any interim government.

Philippe denied any involvement in the attack. But Remy Teleus, one of the gunmen who was captured, told reporters he was among more than 50 men mobilized by Philippe to take over police headquarters and the southern region.