Sri Lanka prison riot kills 23, wounds more than 100

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Clashes in a Sri Lankan jail have killed 23 people, including four guards, and wounded more than 100 in the country’s deadliest prison riot in more than five years, officials said Monday.

The wounded were rushed to the Negombo hospital, north of the capital Colombo, following overnight clashes between inmates from two drug gangs at the area’s main prison, police said.

Hospital director Pushpa Gamlath said there were 23 bodies at her state-run health facility, and more than 100 wounded inmates and guards were also admitted.

“There are some victims with gunshot injuries, some with cuts and severe bruises,” Gamlath told AFP by telephone.

Fighting began on Sunday evening at Negombo prison, which houses several thousand inmates, officials said.

As the reports of the fighting spread across the prison, women inmates at an adjoining section climbed on top of a roof and demanded their release on Sunday night.

Police said part of the roof collapsed, injuring some of the women.

Police commandos were called in on Monday but not deployed inside the prison.

Large crowds of relatives of the inmates gathered outside the prison on Monday as the air force deployed drones and a helicopter to monitor the area.

Local residents said they heard gunshots.

“Four guards were killed when they tried to break up the rioting,” a police official told AFP. “The situation got out of hand this morning.”

In December 2020, rioting at another prison in Sri Lanka 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.

Official data showed that prisons across Sri Lanka held 41,250 inmates as of Sunday, about four times their capacity.