Jamaican boss thought to still be on island

POLICE in Kingston believe the alleged underworld boss who escaped a bloody four-day assault on his slum stronghold is still in the country.

Amid growing claims that innocent people died during the fighting, police commissioner Owen Ellington said authorities believed that Christopher "Dudus" Coke, right, wanted by the US on drugs and gun trafficking charges, was in hiding.

"We will catch him, we will execute that warrant and he will face justice," Ellington said. He added that the "best intelligence we have" indicated Coke remained in Jamaica.

Many residents of the capital's slums have said that police and soldiers sprayed bullets wildly when they stormed neighbourhoods that had been barricaded by Coke's loyalists in the west of the city.

So far, the government has said 70 civilians and three security officers were killed during the fighting.

US authorities allege Coke has been trafficking cocaine to New York since the mid-1990s.