25 killed in Sri Lanka prison clash, around 100 injured

Posted on by Taiwo Adebulu

1 min readUpdated: Jul 6, 2026 03:36 PM IST

Sri Lankan military has been asked to provide support after at least 25 people were killed and around 100 others injured in a clash between two groups of prisoners on Monday.

The clashes began on Sunday between convicted prisoners and those ​under detention ​at the over-capacity prison ⁠in the Sri Lankan coastal town of Negombo, Reuters reported quoting sources.

full video clips here

What happened in Sri Lanka?

The prison is located about 35 km north of the commercial capital city of Colombo.

While the trigger for the clashes isn’t immediately known, rioting inmates reportedly grabbed prison guns on Monday as the altercation turned deadly.

Areas within the ⁠prison are ⁠still being cleared, and officials are working to count ⁠the ‌dead and the injured, police sources told Reuters.

Military on standby

​Army ​spokesman Brigadier ​Waruna Gamage told Reuters that “military has ​been requested to provide ‌support to the police but at the moment they are ‌on standby”.

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

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