Sri Lanka prison clashes kill 3 as government probes organised plot

Colombo,UPDATED: Aug 7, 2026 16:10 IST

Three inmates were killed and 23 others injured in separate clashes at two prisons in Sri Lanka over the past 24 hours, officials said on Friday, in the latest in a series of prison unrest incidents in the island nation over the past month.

The government has said the recent violence at several prisons is suspected to be part of an organised plot. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has called a meeting of all stakeholders involved in prisons later in the day, while officials said the unrest at the affected prisons had been brought under control with the deployment of troops.

At the Kuruwita prison, about 60 km southeast of Colombo, two inmates were killed and 13 others were injured on Friday after a violent situation, officials said. The injured are receiving treatment at Ratnapura Hospital. Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told reporters, "The immediate trigger for the unrest appears to have been the detection of a package containing narcotics and the subsequent arrest. It is evident that this was a response to the government's anti-narcotics drive."

Hours earlier, a similar unrest was reported at Colombo's Magazine Prison. Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament that at around 10 pm on Thursday, about 40 inmates rioted after breaking through a section. One inmate was killed in the violence and 10 others were injured, he said.

Earlier on Friday, around 30 inmates at the Pallansena Prison climbed onto the roof of a ward and staged a protest after breakfast, Wijepala said. He added that police and prison officials were working to control the situation. In Parliament, Wijepala said suspicions had arisen over whether the escalating violence reported at several prisons was linked to an organised plot. He said the government aimed to suppress the unrest while safeguarding the lives of all inmates and officers.

Earlier this week, Nanayakkara also told Parliament that the government was aware of more riots at prisons and suspected them to be organised acts of sabotage. The recent incidents follow similar unrest at the Negombo prison on July 5 and 6, which killed 33. On August 1, similar rioting took place at Mahara prison, killing one inmate. Rights groups have blamed overcrowding in prisons as the primary reason for frequent skirmishes. The latest clashes at Kuruwita and Magazine Prison have added to concerns over rising unrest inside Sri Lanka's prisons.

With PTI Inputs

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