Two people were shot dead at the scene and a third wounded when gunmen opened fire on a three-wheeler at Halpathota, Baddegama, in the Galle district on Sunday morning, police said. The wounded woman later died in hospital, taking the toll to three — see the update below. Afternoon filings by NewsFirst and Hiru News settled a toll that morning reports had left contradictory.

The victims

Citing police, Hiru identifies the woman killed as 47-year-old Kudawidanage Sushitha Iroshanee, known as “Kalu Noni”, a resident of Ambalangoda. The driver of the three-wheeler she was travelling in, Lalith Susantha de Silva of Kuligoda, Ambalangoda, died at the scene.

Her mother, named by Hiru as D. N. G. Mallika of Godahena, Ambalangoda, was wounded and is in intensive care at Karapitiya Hospital in Galle. NewsFirst reports the injured were taken to Elpitiya and Karapitiya hospitals.

Police told Hiru the woman was targeted as she returned from reporting to sign at the Galle Crime Division branch office in Baddegama.

What police say about the attackers

Police say information has come to light that the shooting was carried out by followers of Sobana Handi Jayalath de Silva, alias “Karandeniye Sudda”, described as a foreign-based organised crime figure and drug trafficker.

The dead woman was associated with the rival faction of Lanthuwahandi Sujeewa Ruwan Kumara de Silva, alias “Loku Patty”, who was extradited to Sri Lanka on 4 May and is named as the main suspect in the 2024 killing of “Club Wasantha” in Athurugiriya, according to Hiru’s account.

Four people arrived in a car carrying two T-56 rifles and opened fire with one of them, police said. The attackers switched cars several times as they fled. CCTV footage shows a man blocking the three-wheeler’s path before firing and running.

Two police teams were deployed to trace the attackers.

Update, 28 September: three arrested

Three suspects have been arrested over the shooting, police said on Monday, on suspicion of aiding and abetting the attack rather than carrying it out.

The arrests were made on Sunday evening, the day of the shooting, by officers of the Elpitiya Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau. Police recovered 16.17 grams of heroin and a car from the suspects.

Daily Mirror reports the three are residents of Kahawatta, Pallebedda and Hikkaduwa, and gives their ages as 22 and 33. They were due to be produced before the Baddegama Magistrate’s Court, with further investigations continuing under Baddegama Police.

Daily Mirror places the arrests in the Halpathota area; Newswire reports only that the Elpitiya unit made them after opening its investigation the same day. The two outlets also name the unit slightly differently — “Elpitiya Division Crimes Investigation Bureau” and “Elpitiya Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau” — which is a naming variation rather than a conflict.

Ada Derana published a further report indicating the attack was directed from abroad. Its site remained unreachable, and that claim is not asserted here because it could not be verified against a fetchable source.

How the account changed through the day

The early reporting was inconsistent, and the afternoon filings resolved all three points.

QuestionMorning reportsConfirmed
Death tollHiru: two injured, none dead. Daily Mirror: one dead, two injuredTwo dead, one injured
TargetDaily Mirror, Hiru, first Newswire report: a residenceA moving three-wheeler
Second deathReported only by Newswire, unconfirmedConfirmed by Hiru and NewsFirst

Newswire’s CCTV-based account, which was the outlier on both the target and the second death, proved correct on both.

All names above come from a single outlet, Hiru, attributing them to police; no second newsroom had published them at the time of writing. Outlets spell the location three ways — Halpathota, Halpatota and Halpetota. Ada Derana carried its own report, but the site remained unreachable.

Update, September 29: death toll rises to three

A third victim has died. D. N. G. Mallika, of the Red Cross Houses at Godahena, Ambalangoda, died while being treated in the Intensive Care Unit at Galle National Hospital, Hiru News reported.

She was the mother of 47-year-old Susitha Iroshani, known as “Kalu Noni,” who was killed at the scene alongside three-wheeler driver Lalith Susantha de Silva of Kuligoda, Ambalangoda. That makes the attack a triple killing across two generations of the same family.

Hiru’s account adds detail on the operation itself. The victims were intercepted on the Baddegama–Hikkaduwa main road as they returned from signing in at the Galle Crimes Division in Baddegama. CCTV captured an assailant blocking the three-wheeler and opening fire with a T-56.

Police say four men arrived in a vehicle carrying two T-56 rifles, one of which was used, and that the attackers switched vehicles several times. An abandoned small red car with altered licence plates has since been recovered at Wawulagala, Baddegama, and is suspected of having been used by the gunmen.

This confirms the second death flagged in the original reporting and adds a third. The identification of the ICU victim as the mother of the primary target had not previously been reported.

Update, September 30: fourth suspect arrested

A fourth suspect has been arrested over the Halpathota shooting, NewsFirst reported.

The broadcaster said the three suspects detained earlier were held on allegations of aiding and abetting the murders. It did not specify the role alleged against the fourth, or whether he is accused of being among the gunmen.

NewsFirst’s account also confirms the sequence of deaths reported here on September 29 — a man and a woman killed at the scene, and a second woman who died of her injuries in hospital the following morning.

Sources