Jamaica police: 30 dead in battle with drug gang

Source: AP

Jamaica police: 30 dead in battle with drug gang
By DAVID McFADDEN (AP) – 43 minutes ago

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Thousands of heavily armed police and soldiers barged past barricades into the capital's most violent slums on Tuesday, clashing with die-hard defenders of a gang leader sought by the United States. At least 30 people have died, officals said.

Jamaica's security forces, reeling from bold attacks by masked gangsters loyal to underworld boss Christopher "Dudus" Coke, were in the midst of a nearly daylong assault in the heart of West Kingston's ramshackle slums, long afflicted by gang strife.

On Tuesday, the third consecutive day of unrest, masked gunmen in West Kingston vanished down side streets barricaded with barbed wire and junked cars intended to block outsiders. The sound of gunfire echoed across the neighborhoods in Jamaica's south coast, far from the all-inclusive tourist meccas of the north shore.

Police spokesman Corporal Richard Minott told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the fighting in West Kingston alone has killed 26 civilians and one security official. Police had reported that earlier fighting killed two officers and a soldier.



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