Sri Lanka deployed troops and ordered a night-time curfew in a southern town to end violent clashes between two ethnic communities, the government said Saturday. Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka said the situation in Gintota in Galle province was under control, two days after a brawl degenerated into street violence between two groups - one Sinhalese, the country's mainly Buddhist majority, the other from the Muslim minority.
"Additional police battalions, the police Special Task Force, the anti-riot squad and the military were called in last night to bring the situation under control," the minister said in a statement. Six people injured in the clashes were admitted to hospital in Galle city, 115 kilometres (72 miles) south of the capital Colombo, according to local police who arrested 19 people.