The death toll in the unrest rocking Jamaica's capital Kingston rose above 60 on Tuesday as bodies were piled up in a morgue, hospital sources told AFP.
Two trucks brought in "about 50" bodies early on Tuesday to the morgue at the Kingston Public Hospital, a nurse told AFP, a figure confirmed separately by a stretcher carrier.
An AFP correspondent witnessed a third truck arrive outside the morgue in the afternoon, piled with corpses riddled with bullet wounds, including a baby.
Another nurse told AFP the third truck had contained 12 bodies.
Police forces have encircled the hospital complex since gun battles erupted when gang members tried to accompany the first two trucks to the morgue.
The police have so far acknowledged that 27 people have been killed - most of them civilians - since they stormed the stronghold of wanted drug lord Christopher Dudus Coke on Monday.
Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding says he regrets the loss of life in the violence and vowed to restore law and order in the Caribbean nation.
"The government deeply regrets the loss of lives of members of the security forces, and those of innocent law abiding citizens who were caught in the cross fire," Golding told the House of Representatives.
Golding said the operations to hunt down "illegal guns and persons who may be wanted by the police for criminal charges" would continue as the government seeks to extradite Christopher "Dudus" Coke to the United States to face trial.
The prime minister also vowed the security forces would "bring an end to this state of an lawlessness and to restore law and calm" amid reports that several homes had been torched.
He said he had instructed the Red Cross to "provide support including ambulances to transport those who have been injured or are otherwise in need of medical attention."
