JAMAICAN TROOPS TO BREAK UP DRUG WAR

Troops have been ordered into the Jamaican capital of Kingston in an
attempt to end what the Prime Minister branded yesterday "a spate of
criminal madness" in which more than 70 people have been killed in
three weeks.

Violent feuds between heavily armed drug gangs have driven hundreds of
people from their homes, many of them setting up makeshift camps
outside police stations, and left many neighbourhoods virtually no-go
areas. P J Patterson, the Prime Minister, has ordered the full-scale
deployment of the Jamaica Defence Force by this weekend to take "lead
responsibility for the defence of this country against lawless elements".

He gave the military broad powers to seek out gangs and confiscate
their guns and disclosed he was seeking the help of international
security agencies, though he did not name which ones. He also
announced a special police Swat team would be set up to counter the
violence.

Soldiers would become "a permanent fixture" on the streets of
Kingston, he said. More than 500 people have been killed in Jamaica
this year and the recent surge in violence appears to have stemmed
from a number of unrelated feuds.

Locals expressed fears yesterday that the arrival of troops could lead
to shoot-outs. Jamaica's police force already has a reputation for
being trigger-happy: officers have shot and killed 235 people in the
past 18 months.