KINGSTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Gunmen shot and killed the third highest-ranking member of Jamaica's police force on Thursday as a crime spree targeting police in the notoriously violent Caribbean nation reached new heights.

Assistant Police Commissioner Gilbert Kameka, 56, was shot dead by three gunmen in the usually quiet village of Irish Town, north of the capital, police said.

His death came hours after police found a junior colleague, Valentino Chambers, dead in his car in the volatile Hannah Town section of West Kingston. Investigators said the constable was sprayed with bullets, gangland style, as he drove to work at a nearby police station.

The constable's pistol was taken by the gunmen, who police said escaped on foot.

Kameka was the highest ranking police officer to be murdered in Jamaican history. His death brought the number of officers killed since the start of the year to 18. a record for the Caribbean island.

Jamaica has long suffered one of the highest murder rates in the world, driven partly by the drug trade. (Reporting by Horace Helps, editing by Tom Brown)

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