At least 27 people were killed and a senior police officer seriously wounded in a gunfight in Sri Lanka’s biggest prison that began when police came under fire from inmates, officials and police said on Saturday.
The army brought the violence under control before dawn and freed staff held hostage at the Welikada prison in the capital Colombo, jail officials and military said.
The violence erupted when officers from the Special Task Force (STF), Sri Lanka’s elite police commandoes, were searching the jail for drugs and illegal mobile phones, Reuters reported.
