At least 10 people were killed in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince in violence Sunday after the country's President Jean Betrand Aristide resigned suddenly and fled abroad, according to reports of Haitian media.

Witnesses were quoted as saying they saw four corpses in the Lalue neighborhood, not far from the center of the Haitian capital. Six bodies were also seen in the southwestern Carrefour neighborhood.

Pressured by foreign governments and a bloody rebellion, Aristide was forced into exile Sunday after issuing a resignation announcement. Gunfire erupted as the capital fell into chaos and the United States dispatched Marines.

The Marines were due to arrive Sunday afternoon, expected to bethe first wave of a UN-backed international peacekeeping force.

France also said it was considering sending troops, with more than 100 to arrive Monday to protect its nationals.

Rioting and looting broke out in Port-au-Prince Sunday as news spread that Aristide had fled the country.

Thousands of Aristide supporters, many of them armed, rampaged through the city during the day, setting fire to buildings, shooting into the air and erecting barricades of burning tires.

Police imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in a bid to bring the situation under control.

The head of Haiti's Supreme Court said he was taking charge of the government, and a key rebel leader said he welcomed the arrival of foreign troops.

It was the second time that Aristide, a 50-year-old former slumpastor, fled his country. He was ousted in a 1991 coup, months after he was elected president for the first time. He was restored to power three years later by US troops.

Aristide's hand-picked successor, Rene Preval, won the 1995 presidential elections and Aristide won a second term in 2000 in elections marred by a low turnout and an opposition boycott.