KINGSTON: The Jamaican Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, vowed to restore law and order to his Caribbean nation as the death toll from violence triggered by a bid to capture an alleged drug lord hit 60.

''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,'' Mr Golding told the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Hospital sources said more than 60 bodies so far were unloaded on Tuesday at a morgue in one of Kingston's main hospitals after security forces stormed the stronghold of an alleged drug kingpin on Monday.

Mr 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 sought to extradite Christopher ''Dudus'' Coke to the United States to face trial.

He 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. The police have acknowledged only that 27 people have been killed - most of them civilians.