16 killed, 45 wounded, prisoners clash with SL commandos in Welikada

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 November 2012, 13:17 GMT]
16 inmates were killed and more than 45 have sustained injuries in a clash between Sri Lankan Special Task Force elite commandos and Sinhala hardcore prisoners, initial reports from Colombo said. A group of STF elite commandos, who entered the Welikada prison in Colombo, on a search operation has provoked anger among the Sinhala inmates after engaging in verbal abuse against the prisoners. The rioting prisoners seized an arms storage at the prison and started firing against the STF personnel, wounding 13 of them. One of those wounded was a Deputy Inspector General, news sources in Colombo said. 

The section affected by the riot in the prison was the quarters of hardcore criminal inmates and remand prisoners, most of whom are Sinhalese.

As the prisoners began to stone the STF commandos and seized the weapons from the prison, additional troops were rushed to control the riot that has erupted inside the prison. 

In an earlier history, the Welikada prison, called the “maximum security Central Jail” in the island, had turned out to be notorious when over 50 Tamil prisoners had been massacred by the Sinhalese guards and prisoners during the anti-Tamil pogrom in July 1983. 

Tamil prisoners were not affected by the riots on Friday, according to initial reports. 

More than 200 Tamil political prisoners, arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), are kept at this Welikada prison. They are kept in detention without any charges filed against them for a prolonged period of time.

The Tamil inmates have been protesting for several years demanding action to release or to initiate legal proceedings against them.

'Eleven killed' in clashes at Sri Lanka's Welikada prison

Some reports say the police may have been searching for drugs and smuggled mobile phones

At least 11 people have died in clashes between inmates and guards at Sri Lanka's Welikada prison in the capital Colombo, hospital officials say.

Dozens more were injured when police commandos came under attack while conducting a search at the prison.

There are reports of ongoing gunfire, and that inmates have seized weapons. The army has been called in and surrounding roads are closed.

Up to 4,000 inmates are held in the jail, which has seen violence before.

In January 25 prisoners and four guards were wounded when clashes erupted, and in 2010 more than 50 police and prison guards were wounded during a raid to seize mobile phones.

After the latest violence the director of the national hospital, Dr Anil Jayasinghe, told the BBC: "Ten people were brought to the hospital dead. A further 37 have been admitted suffering injuries, amongst them prison and police officers."

A prisoner who was in the jail at the time told the BBC Sinhala's Saroj Pathirana that clashes broke out when police commandos entered the jail, taking prisoners out of their cells and handcuffing them.

Some reports say the police may have been searching for drugs and smuggled mobile phones.

The prisoner told our correspondent that inmates seized weapons from the prison's weapon store during the confrontation.

Eyewitness reports say inmates were seen waving rifles from the roof of a prison building. But a senior advisor to the prison ministry told BBC Sinhala that the situation was under control.