The police High Command says strong security detachments will be deployed to areas where there has been a spike in violence.

At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday and Thursday.

At the same time, the police are making yet another call for persons to come forward with information that can help in solving crimes.

Assistant commissioner of police in charge of crime, Denver Frater, issued the appeal yesterday. "The current crime situation is of concern especially to know so many lives have been lost, many of them as a result of gang violence," he said.

Frater told The Gleaner that intelligence has suggested that many murders across the island are triggered by gang warfare.

The latest carnage occurred on Balcombe Drive in the St Andrew South Police Division.

Three persons, Bonito Taylor, 41, Tashana Hall, 21, and 26-year-old Sheldon Falconer, were shot by gunmen yesterday morning about 4:30.

A well-known instigator

According to the police, Falconer was a well-known instigator of criminality in the area.

Later in the morning, 57-year-old businessman Dennis Fong of Rovan Close, Kingston, was shot dead by gunmen in Rockfort, Kingston 2.

On Wednesday night, 35-year-old Rodney Morris of Oddman Lane, Kingston 8, was shot dead about 7:45 p.m. on Grants Pen Drive, Kingston 8.

Other murders also occurred in St James and Clarendon.

The community of central Kingston calmed somewhat yesterday after six murders were committed there Tuesday and Wednesday.

When The Gleaner visited the community yesterday afternoon, few residents were milling about.

Residents were tight-lipped when quizzed but expressed hope of prolonged peace in the area.

Dr Elizabeth Ward, member of the Violence Prevention Alliance, says communities which are feuding such as those in central Kingston need to seek reconciliation in the short term.

For the long term, Dr Ward is calling for sustained intervention from government and private agencies.