Lanka gang shoots at prison bus, kills seven

Colombo, Feb. 27: Attackers opened fire on a prison bus outside Colombo on Monday, killing five prisoners and two armed guards in the worst gang-related violence to hit Sri Lanka in decades.

Police said the gunmen sprayed bullets at the bus as it passed through a wooded area near the capital, also wounding four guards.

One of the victims was a senior member of an underworld group operating in Sri Lanka, where automatic weapons remain easily available eight years after the end of a decadeslong war.

“It is believed that the shooting was a result of enmity between two underworld gangs,” police said. “Investigations are under way.”

The prisoners were being driven to court for a hearing when the audacious daytime attack took place, police said.

Police said Monday’s bus ambush was the deadliest gang-related attack in Sri Lanka in living memory.

President Maithripala Sirisena deployed troops last year to bolster police efforts to crack down on gang-related activity, which experts say has been rising.

Most gangs make their money from protection rackets, often in league with politicians, or from illegal drugs and liquor.

Security for underworld suspects had also been tightened following a shooting on a prison bus that seriously wounded another suspected gang leader in the capital in March last year.

Police set up roadblocks in and around the capital after six people were killed in two separate incidents on that day.

But the barriers brought back unwelcome memories of wartime Colombo when residents had to undergo frequent stops for security checks.