Miami Herald

A group of unidentified armed men raided the home of a fugitive rebel leader but failed to capture him early Tuesday, local radio reported. Guy Philippe was nowhere to be found when the English-speaking men arrived by boat to the remote southern peninsula town of Pestel, Haiti's Radio Kiskeya reported.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Port-au-Prince, said officials would not comment. U.N. peacekeepers said they were not involved. Philippe, a former presidential candidate whose rebel band helped oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, is being sought in connection with a pending drug indictment in U.S. federal court. He evaded capture last year in a raid led by U.S. and Haitian authorities. Shortly after the raid, Philippe told a local radio show in October that he was the victim of a political plot and dared U.S. agents to kill him.