FOUR men were killed yesterday and another three – two women and a Jamaica Defence Force soldier – were injured when the security forces engaged heavily armed men in a gunfight in Rema, a tough inner-city community in Jamaica’s capital, Kingston.

The names of the dead were not ascertained last night.

A rifle, a shotgun, a 9mm pistol, several rounds of assorted ammunition and two magazines were seized and at least 15 men were detained following the shooting, the police said.

Police said they were called into Rema when armed thugs invaded a section of the community known as ‘Egypt’ and began firing wildly. The gunmen, said officers, turned their guns on them when they went into the community after 3:00 in the afternoon.

“Upon arrival, the team was fired upon by gunmen from several directions. As is natural, the police reciprocated and there was a running gunbattle lasting for several minutes.

When the shooting ended it was discovered that several persons were shot, including the women,” head of the Kingston West Police Division Superintendent Delroy Hewitt told the Observer.

The soldier was injured when gunmen fired on the army vehicle that was taking the injured women to hospital while it was travelling along North Street in downtown Kingston. His condition was last night listed as serious but stable. The injured women were last night also listed as stable.

Hewitt said last night that he was confident that some of the detained men would be charged for various crimes. “At least two or three of them will be arrested and charged,” said the superintendent.

Gangs fighting for turf have left residents of Rema in fear for several months now, the police reported. According to the police, dissident members of a gang based in a section of nearby Denham Town known as ‘Shooter’s Hill’ have taken up residence in the Fourth Street area of Rema, and have been waging a bloody battle with the Entourage gang, which is based between Third Street and East Road in the community.

“The war got more intense when other men from Shooter’s Hill joined forces with the Entourage gang and started to retaliate. There have been nightly reports of shootings in the area,” Hewitt said.

The police said at least four people have been shot and killed and several others injured in Rema in the last two months.

“The area was peaceful for months but the turmoil started as soon as the Shooter’s Hill gang began to splinter and various factions took up residence in Rema,” an officer at the Denham Town Police Station said.

A large contingent of police and soldiers maintained a presence in the community last night.