Louisiana troops will 'shoot and kill' to end violence

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco warned rioters and looters in New Orleans that National Guard troops are under her orders to "shoot and kill" to end the rampant violence in the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Announcing the arrival of 300 Arkansas National Guard troops in New Orleans fresh from service in Iraq, Blanco said, "these troops are battle-tested. They have M-16s and are locked and loaded."

"These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will," she said.

US Representative Charlie Melancon, a Democrat, said as many as 100 people in his district southeast of New Orleans have died as a by-product of the violence that has gripped the city after Katrina slammed into the region on Monday, causing massive flooding.

Those who died, Melancon said, had been waiting at a warehouse pier along the Mississippi River in Chalmette, Louisiana, to be picked up for evacuation. They had received little food and no water since Monday or Tuesday.

"They were afraid they would have to go through New Orleans (to deliver the supplies)," Melancon said.

Melancon said some of those waiting for pickup died of dehydration in the 90-degree heat that has afflicted the region since Tuesday.

Despair is also affecting those in New Orleans charged with protecting the city, said State Police Superintendent Col H L Whitehorn.

Some New Orleans police officers have resigned rather than face the violence in the city.

"It's my understanding those who have resigned said they have lost everything and it's not worth being shot at and losing their lives," Whitehorn said.

Whitehorn said he did not know the specific number of police officers who have quit their jobs.

- REUTERS