Twenty-five dead, 100 injured in clashes at Sri Lanka prison, sources say


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, July 6, 2026. REUTERS/Lahiru Harshana

COLOMBO, July 6 (Reuters) - ⁠Twenty-five people were killed and about ⁠100 injured in clashes between two ‌groups of prisoners at a prison in Sri Lanka on Monday, two police sources and one hospital source ​told Reuters.

The clashes began ⁠on Sunday between convicted ⁠prisoners and those under detention at the prison ⁠in ‌the coastal town of Negombo, about 35 km (20 miles) north of ⁠the commercial capital city of Colombo, ​the sources ‌said.

The trigger for the clashes was not ⁠immediately ​known.

Police sources said that areas within the prison were still being cleared, with officials working ⁠to account for the dead ​and the injured.

"Military has been requested to provide support to the police but at the ⁠moment they are on standby," Army spokesman Brigadier Waruna Gamage told Reuters.

Visuals from Derana TV showed heavy police deployment outside the ​gate of the prison as ⁠a police bus carrying the injured inmates, ​some of them sprawled ‌on its floor, left the ​premises.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh)

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