COLOMBO, July 9 -- Post-mortem examinations into the deadly violence at Negombo Prison have found that prison officers killed during the unrest died from severe head injuries sustained in brutal assaults, while most inmate fatalities were caused by gunshot wounds, judicial medical officials said.

A team of Judicial Medical Officers (JMOs) has so far completed autopsies on 24 of the victims, both prison officers and inmates who died during the violence of July 5 and 6, finding that 14 deaths were caused by gunshot wounds and nine by blunt-force assaults. The death of one prison officer who succumbed to his injuries while under treatment at the Colombo National Hospital was also reported to the Maligakanda Magistrate's Court, with post-mor...