Death Toll Rising As Jamaican Security Forces Battle Gunmen Loyal To 'Shower Posse' Boss Christopher ''Dudus'' Coke

At least 30 people have now been killed during running battles between troops and heavily armed gangsters on the streets of Jamaica.

As the death toll rose in street battles between security forces and supporters of Christopher “Dudus” Coke, the Foreign Office “strongly advised” British citizens to avoid all non-essential travel in the area.

America and other European countries have also heightened warnings to their citizens over the danger in and around Kingston.

Violence has spread to other parts of the island and police have detained 211 people in their hunt for Coke, who is being protected by his supporters.

More than 1,000 police and soldiers launched an assault on Coke’s stronghold and the government has declared a state of emergency.

On the third consecutive day of violence, one of the main hospitals in Kingston had to be closed after armed gangs attacked police outside the building.

Other hospitals offered only emergency services and the government appealed for donations of blood. Schools and numerous businesses were closed. The British High Commission in Kingston was closed as was the US embassy.

Police shut off access roads into the gangster stronghold of Tivoli Gardens, as explosions shook the area and sent up billowing smoke. Local radio stations were inundated with desperate calls from Tivoli residents trapped in their homes by the gunfire.

At least three members of the security forces have been killed but the remainder of the dead were said to be civilians.

The US Department of State described the situation in the city as “deteriorating” and warned its citizens against travel to Kingston and surrounding areas.

With the access road between the capital and its international airport intermittently closed due to sporadic gun battles, airlines have started to cancel flights there.

A string of police stations have been firebombed, some of them outside the capital, and gunmen even attacked the central police headquarters in Kingston.

The fighting has not yet spread into the city’s wealthier neighbourhoods but it has broken out in other slum areas.

In Spanish Town, west of Kingston, police said two people, including a little boy, had been killed in fighting.

In Portmore, another poor town, gunmen sprayed bullets at a minivan full of local people.

The violence was sparked by the Jamaican government’s belated decision to agree to US demands for Mr Coke’s extradition to New York to face drug and gun trafficking charges.

Mr Coke, 41, is a godfather-like figure in Tivoli Gardens, a rundown neighbourhood where his supporters have blockaded streets.

He is believed to be hiding inside, refusing government demands that he give himself up to the judicial process.

Mr Coke allegedly leads the Shower Posse, a violent drug gang also active in the US, Britain and Canada. They have historically been loyal to Jamaica’s ruling Labour Party.

Jamaican politicians set up rival gangs — allegedly even arming them – in the 1970s to mobilise local support at election time but the gangs have since largely turned to drug trafficking.

The drug trade is deeply entrenched in Jamaica, which is the largest producer of marijuana in the region and where gangs have become powerful organised crime networks involved in international gun smuggling. It fuels one of the world’s highest murder rates; the island of 2.8 million people had about 1,660 homicides in 2009.
Source: Telegraph.co.uk