COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: A riot in a prison in Sri Lanka that killed 26 people and injured dozens happened because of a fight between two groups over drug smuggling inside the jail, a senior official said on July 7.

Authorities said that two days of violence between two groups of inmates at the prison in the coastal town of Negombo, about 35 km (20 miles) north of the commercial capital Colombo, left 26 people dead, including seven prison officials.

Early investigations showed that the fight began when some prisoners gave information to prison officials about attempts to smuggle drugs into the prison, Minister of Justice and National Integration Harshana Nanayakkara told parliament.

He explained that this angered another group of inmates who supported the smuggling, leading to the clash.

He added that when prison officials tried to stop the violence, the situation became worse. Prisoners attacked the officials using bricks and poles, and the officials fired in self-defense. He said it is still not clear how the prisoners got weapons, and investigations are continuing.

Nanayakkara also said that a small group of prisoners managed to disable the CCTV cameras inside the prison.

On the morning of July 7, 734 prisoners were moved to four other prisons to reduce overcrowding, according to the Department of Prisons.

The Negombo prison was holding about 2,400 inmates despite having space for only around 650, according to the Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners, resulting in severe overcrowding.

Dozens of police officers and special police forces were called in on July 6 to bring the situation under control, and about 100 injured prisoners and prison staff were treated in hospital.

On July 7, military personnel with armored vehicles were still stationed outside the prison.

Sri Lanka has seen similar prison violence before, including a riot in November 2020 that killed 11 inmates and another riot in 2012 in Colombo that left 27 people dead.