At least 44 people have died during fighting between police and gunmen in the current anti-drug offensive in Kingston, Jamaica's ombudsman says.

牙买加监察专员称，金斯敦禁毒行动中，警察与持枪歹徒的决斗已造成至少44人死亡。

Kingston has seen days of running battles between police and fighters

The city has seen days of running battles between security forces and fighters loyal to a suspected drug trafficker sought by the US.

The whereabouts（行踪，下落） of alleged¹ drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke is unknown.

Police, backed by armoured cars and helicopters, have detained 200 people and seized guns in the operation.

The latest death toll²（死亡人数） was announced by the ombudsman（监察专员） , Bishop³ Herro Blair, after an independent evaluation⁴ of the situation was requested by Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

Businessmen or Baron⁵?

Meanwhile, the hunt through Kingston's Tivoli Gardens district for Mr Coke is ongoing⁶. He has thousands of loyal followers⁷ in the area who have promised to protect him at any cost.

It is believed that some of the civilians⁸ were gunmen who were killed while defending Mr Coke, but correspondents say the high casualty（意外事故，伤亡人员） figure does raise questions about the heavy-handedness of the operation, which has involved thousands of security officials.

Although police came under heavy fire when they first entered the area to try and arrest Mr Coke on Tuesday, correspondents said the situation on Wednesday was mostly quiet.

Police were going house-to-house searching for information about the alleged drug king-pin's whereabouts.

Earlier, Mr Golding said he regretted the loss of life in the recent violence, and vowed⁹ to restore order.

A state of emergency has been in place in parts of Kingston since Friday, when several police stations were attacked.

Since the state of emergency was declared, people have not been allowed out of their homes to get food, water or other essential supplies.

The Red Cross sent a team into the area with Mr Blair to ensure security forces were facilitating（便利，促进） the distribution of emergency goods.

But the ongoing security crisis has prompted cricket authorities to shift international matches between the West Indies and South Africa scheduled for next month from Kingston to Trinidad.