Jamaican gang leader still free after fighting kills 44

JAMAICAN security forces claimed a tenuous hold over the slum stronghold of a gang leader sought by the US, but only after battles that killed at least 44 civilians, the country's official ombudsman said yesterday.

Officers and soldiers remained engaged in combat with defenders of Christopher Coke, known as "Dudus", in pockets of the Tivoli Gardens area. He remains at large after nearly three days of street battles.

Bishop Herro Blair, Jamaica's political ombudsman, said independent evaluations had put the number of civilian dead at 44 in West Kingston alone. Police said at least four soldiers and police officers had also died.

Mr Blair and Jamaica's public defender were escorted by security forces into Tivoli Gardens, where supporters of Coke began massing last week after prime minister Bruce Golding dropped his nine-month refusal to extradite him to the US.

Coke has ties to Mr Golding's Labour Party, which gets a large number of votes in Tivoli Gardens – the area the prime minister represents in parliament.

Mr Golding told parliament yesterday: "The government deeply regrets the loss of lives, especially those of members of the security forces and innocent, law-abiding citizens caught in the crossfire. The security forces were directed to take all practical steps to avoid casualties."

He vowed the "most thorough investigations" would examine all deaths caused by security forces. He also said security agents would go after "criminal gunmen in whatever community they may be ensconced".

Government officials said all the dead civilians in West Kingston were men. But people inside the slums claimed there had been indiscriminate shootings during the assault that police and soldiers launched on Monday.

The gunmen fighting for Coke claim he provides services and protection to the poor West Kingston community – funded by a criminal empire that seemed untouchable until the US demanded his extradition.

Coke has built a loyal following and turned the neighbourhood into his stronghold. US authorities say he has been trafficking cocaine to the streets of New York City since the mid-1990s, allegedly hiring island women to hide the drugs on themselves on flights to the US.

Mr Golding had stonewalled the extradition request for nine months, straining relations.

A US State Department report earlier this year questioned Jamaica's reliability as an ally in the war on drugs, and Mr Golding's stance drew domestic opposition that threatened his political career.

The government imposed a month-long state of emergency in the Kingston area on Sunday after violence by gangsters that security forces called unprovoked. The fighting has not touched the tourist meccas along the north coast or the nearby Montego Bay airport.