Incident Summary:

11/30/2018: Assailants attacked a police check post in Vavunathivu, Eastern, Sri Lanka. Two police officers, identified as Dinesh Ganesh and Niroshan Indika, were killed in the attack. Rasanayagam Saravanandan, a former member of the now defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), claimed responsibility for the incident.

GTD ID:
201811300030

When:
2018-11-30

Country:
Sri Lanka

Region:
South Asia

Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:

Eastern

City:
Vavunathivu

Attack Information
Type of Attack (more) Armed Assault
Successful Attack? (more) Yes
Target Information (more)
Target Type: Police
Name of Entity Sri Lanka Police Service
Specific Description Checkpost
Nationality of Target Sri Lanka
Additional Information
Hostages No
Ransom No
Property Damage No
Weapon Information
Type Sub-type
Firearms Automatic Weapon
Weapon Details
A Type 56 assault rifle was used in the attack.
Additional Information
Suicide Attack?No
Part of Multiple Incident?No
Criterion 1 (more) No
Criterion 2 (more) Yes
Criterion 3 (more) Yes
Doubt Terrorism Proper (more) Yes
Alternate Designation (more) Other Crime Type
Additional Information There is doubt that this incident meets terrorism-related criteria. Sources suspected the incident may have been the result of a dispute between the police and a criminal gang.
Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name Claimed Responsibility
Unknown Yes (Confirmed: Unknown; Mode: Personal claim)
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators 1
Number of Captured Perpetrators 1
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties 2 Fatalities / 0 Injured
Total Number of Fatalities 2
Number of U.S. Fatalities 0
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities 0
Total Number of Injured 0
Number of U.S. Injured 0
Number of Perpetrators Injured 0
Sources
"House concerned over Batticaloa Police deaths," Sri Lanka Daily News, November 30, 2018.
"Sri Lanka: Occupying Colombo intentionally targets ex-LTTE members for murder of SL policemen," TamilNet, December 1, 2018.
"Sri Lanka: Tamil, Sinhala policemen shot and killed in Batticaloa," TamilNet, November 30, 2018.