Police say recent killings in Puerto Rico have pushed the territory's annual homicide rate above 800 victims for the first time in more than a decade

The most recent violence brings the homicide rate for 2008 to 802. The deadliest year on record is 1996, when 868 violent deaths were recorded on this island of nearly 4 million inhabitants. In 2007, the high violent crime rate in the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan led the U.S. Justice Department to dispatch additional teams of federal agents to combat gangs. But the homicide rate continues to soar in the densely populated city.