Four killed, dozens injured in Jamaica gun battle

Four people were killed in a gun battle between police and gang members in Jamaica’s capital Kingston, police said today.

A police officer and a soldiers were among those killed and about two dozen people were injured in the violence which erupted at dawn on Saturday.

The injured included at least three police officers, one soldier and 20 civilians.

The gun battle broke out as police and soldiers entered the neighbourhoods of Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town to quell gang fighting, police spokeswoman Jean McDonald said.

Snipers hidden in buildings strafed the streets with gunfire from automatic weapons as the officers searched the area, she said.

Jamaican television station TVJ broadcast images of police and soldiers exchanging gunfire with unseen foes on streets littered with burning vehicles.

Officials said suspected gang members lobbed firebombs at police and army cars.

Soldiers and officers were trapped at a police station on Saturday night by snipers firing and tossing sticks of dynamite from nearby buildings, McDonald added.

With Saturday’s deaths, the gang violence in Kingston has left at least 41 people dead in the past two months.

The police were attempting to quell weeks of violence in the two western Kingston neighbourhoods, both strongholds of the opposition Jamaica Labour Party.

Gangs in that area have clashed repeatedly with gangs from neighbouring areas that are tied to the governing People’s National Party.

Bursts or gunfire rang out in the background as Jamaica Labour Party leader Edward Seaga spoke on television, accusing the police and army of provoking violence in the area because it was his political stronghold.

Police did not immediately respond to his accusations. Seaga also repeated charges he has made over the last month that recent violence between gangs was part of plot by the governing party to embarrass him because he represents the area in Parliament.

National Party officials have denied his claims, saying the fighting was part of campaign of violence orchestrated by Seaga to force early elections.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Kingston’s gangs were used to rustle up votes for Jamaica’s two main political parties. Although the many gangs now focus on drugs, most remain loyal to particular political parties.

The violence on Saturday shut down Kingston’s busy central shopping district.