appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageTypeformConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Agence France-Presse

Sri Lanka launched an investigation on Tuesday into its deadliest prison riot in years, as the death toll from clashes between rival drug gangs rose to 27.
Armed police and commandos were not sent into the prison but were deployed to guard the perimeter of Negombo prison, as authorities tightened security following the clashes on Monday that also wounded more than 100.
Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told parliament on Tuesday that a criminal investigation had begun alongside a government-appointed commission.
Police said the death toll was at least 27 people, including another inmate who died overnight.
They also said a preliminary investigation had found that rival gangs clashed inside the prison in the capital’s north before overpowering guards, seizing their weapons and opening fire.
Nanayakkara said inmates had also smashed a CCTV camera in the chaos.
Doctors said 97 victims, including 23 prison officers, were still in Negombo hospital with gunshot wounds, cuts and severe bruises.
Another 19 inmates were being treated at a hospital in Colombo.

Seven guards had been killed when they tried to break up the rioting on Monday, a police official said.
Nanayakkara, who visited victims in hospital on Monday, was shocked by the scale of the violence.
“Human beings have died, and there is deep shock over that. This is something that should never have occurred,” he said.
An AFP photographer outside the prison saw prison buses transferring some inmates out of the facility as police kept the area cordoned off. Officials confirmed they were being relocated to other prisons.
Prison authorities said foreign nationals held at Negombo were not caught up in the violence, but were transferred as a precaution.
Scrutiny over Sri Lanka’s chronically overcrowded prison system has been renewed as official figures show the country’s prisons are operating at roughly four times their intended capacity.
Rioting at another prison in Sri Lanka in December 2020 killed 11 inmates and wounded 117 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, leading the government to release hundreds of inmates from overcrowded jails.


At least 26 inmates killed in Sri Lanka in country’s worst prison riot in more than 5 years

Sri Lanka probes prison riot as death toll rises to 27

Sri Lanka prison riot kills 23, wounds more than 100

Japan’s detention system under scrutiny after ruling on abuse of restraints

Sri Lanka

A relative of a victim killed in clashes between inmates of two drug gangs, grieves in front of the Negombo prison on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Army officers stand guard outside the Negombo prison on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Prisoners board a bus to be transferred to another prison following clashes between two groups of inmates at Negombo prison in the coastal town of Negombo, Sri Lanka on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Security personnel stand guard outside Negombo prison where deadly clashes broke out on Sunday. Photo: AP

Relatives of inmates react outside Negombo prison following clashes between two groups of inmates on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Is Sri Lanka’s investor call for ‘world’s emptiest airport’ struggling to get off ground?

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Sri Lanka. Photo: Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport

A drone photo taken on July 29, 2024, shows the Hambantota International Port in Sri Lanka. Photo: Hambantota International Port/Xinhua

Check-in counters at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport. Photo: Handout

Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa (left) stands with his brothers, Gotabaya (centre) and Basil on July 4, 2018. Photo: AP

Sri Lanka’s refusal to host US warplanes before Iran war risks trade backlash

A US F-35C Lightning II prepares to land on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on March 3. It is not clear which warplanes the US asked Sri Lanka to host. Photo: US Navy/AFP

A Sri Lankan naval vessel approaches the Iranian vessel IRIS Bushehr on March 5, a day after the Iranian military ship IRIS Dena was torpedoed off the island’s coast. Photo: Sri Lanka Navy/Reuters

Motorists wait in long queues to refuel their vehicles at a petrol station on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on March 15. Photo: AFP

An aerial view of Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Photo: US Navy/AP

Sri Lanka arrests son of ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa for corruption

Yoshitha Rajapaksa arrives at the Hulftsdorp Chief Magistrate’s Court in Colombo on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa attends the anniversary ceremony of the end of Sri Lanka’s Tamil separatist war at his residence in Colombo on May 18. Photo: AFP

News

Asia

South Asia

Rival gangs clashed inside the prison before overpowering guards, seizing their weapons and opening fire


Rival gangs clashed inside the prison before overpowering guards, seizing their weapons and opening fire.


Crime

Sri Lanka probes prison riot as death toll rises to 27

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Rival gangs clashed inside the prison before overpowering guards, seizing their weapons and opening fire

Rival gangs clashed inside the prison before overpowering guards, seizing their weapons and opening fire