6 children, 3 women among 15 killed in raids on terror hideouts in Sri Lanka

TIL Desk/World/Colombo/ Six children and three women were among 15 people killed when suicide bombers blew themselves up during a shootout with security forces in Sri Lanka’s Eastern province, police said Saturday. The security forces continued their hunt for members of the local terror group National Thowheeth Jamath (NTJ) which was behind the deadly Easter Sunday bombings in which 253 people were killed and over 500 injured.

Police Special Task Force (STF) personnel and Army troops were engaged in the gun battle with an armed group at a house in the Saindamarudu area in Kalmunai city, about 360 kms from Colombo.The heavily-armed men opened fire on troops, leading to the shootout on Friday night. A civilian, who was caught in the gun battle, died.

Three men are believed to have set off explosives during the violent clashes. “A total of 15 bodies recovered, six men, three women and six children. At least four suspected suicide bombers are dead and three others who were injured are in hospital,” a police spokesperson said.