Sri Lanka, July 8 -- Acting Prisons Commissioner General Prasad Hemantha Kumara said prison officers were compelled to take decisive action to prevent the situation at the Negombo Prison from escalating into a far more catastrophic incident.

Addressing the weekly Cabinet media briefing in Colombo, Kumara defended the actions of prison officers, including the controversial footage showing an officer opening fire through a gate.

He said the officers acted to prevent a catastrophic prison breach and to rescue fellow officers who had become trapped inside the prison while under attack by rioting inmates.

He explained that inmates had already broken through the prison's main iron gate and were advancing towards the outer wooden gate. Had th...