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From: AbortedBaby on 24 May 2010 17:43
There's a lot of gunfire and smoke down there, but the Chamber of
Commerce says it's all just theater for the tourists. Not to worry ...
From: Rush'sButtBoy on 25 May 2010 14:35

"Jamaica police: 30 dead in battle with drug gang"

By DAVID McFADDEN, Associated Press Writer
May 25, 2010





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, officials 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.

It was not immediately clear what was happening inside the patchwork
of slums where Coke's supporters began massing last week after Prime
Minister Bruce Golding dropped his nine-month refusal to extradite
Coke, who has ties to his political party.

Golding's office announced that Jamaica's ombudsman and the chief
public defender were hoping to head to Tivoli Gardens to independently
"ascertain the precise number of persons who have been killed or
injured" there.

Kingston streets outside the battle zones were mostly empty, schools
and numerous businesses were closed, hospitals offered only emergency
services and the government appealed for donations of blood. The
government on Sunday implemented a monthlong state of emergency.

The violence has not spilled into the capital's wealthier
neighborhoods, but gangs from slums just outside the capital have
joined the fight, erecting barricades on roadways and shooting at
troops.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100525/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_jamaica_slum_standoff
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