Three inmates die, 23 injured in Sri Lanka prison break attempts

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Three inmates were killed and 23 others injured during escape attempts at three prisons, including the main Welikada facility in the capital, Public Security Minister Ananda Wijerappa said. Speaking outside Sri Lanka's parliament on Thursday, Wijerappa said about 40 inmates attempted to break out of Welikada prison on Thursday evening. One inmate died and 10 people were injured in that incident, the minister said. At Kuruwita Prison, located roughly 80 kilometers southeast of Colombo, violence left two people dead and 13 others injured. The minister said order had been restored at the Colombo prison and that hundreds of soldiers and special police units had been deployed to the area. He added that security forces had also been stationed at Kuruwita and that order had been reestablished there. Wijerappa said the incidents appeared to follow a recurring pattern and raised suspicions of a conspiracy, but provided no further details. Sri Lankan authorities have linked unrest at two Colombo-area prisons in recent years, where 23 inmates and 10 guards died, to severe overcrowding, with inmate populations running at roughly four times the facilities' capacity.