Wrong house targeted? Police probe grenade attack that killed two children
Police suspect that the grenade attack on a house in Dehiwala that killed two children may have been the result of the attackers mistakenly targeting the wrong house, according to details released during the investigation.
The attack occurred at around 3 a.m yesterday at a house on Sirisangabo Road in the Kawdana area of Dehiwala.
Police said CCTV footage showed an unidentified individual arriving in a three-wheeler before approaching the house. According to police, the suspect knocked on the door and threw a grenade inside after an occupant opened it.
Two children who were sleeping inside sustained serious injuries and later died. They were identified as 17-year-old Kasun Rashmika and his 11-year-old brother Duminda Gihan.
Their 55-year-old father, Nalin Thushanth Perera, was also injured and hospitalised with injuries to his leg.
Police said there was no known criminal history or previous criminal allegations against the injured father.
However, police said they had received information that relatives living in a neighbouring house had faced allegations related to drug trafficking. Investigators are also looking into information suggesting that those individuals may have links to a suspected organised crime figure known as “Badovita Asanka,” who police believe is currently overseas.
Based on these lines of inquiry, police suspect that the attackers may have failed to correctly identify their intended target and instead attacked the house occupied by the father and his two children. No suspects have so far been identified publicly as responsible for the attack.
Residents interviewed following the incident described the father and his children as having no involvement in criminal activities. One resident said the father worked as a three-wheeler driver to support the two children and that their mother had left the family when they were young.
Police are also investigating whether the incident was linked to another grenade attack on a house in the Kalubowila area two days earlier. Investigators are examining whether the Dehiwala attack may have been carried out in retaliation for that incident, although no such motive has yet been established.
The three-wheeler suspected by police to have been used by those responsible was later found abandoned in the Pahala Bope area.
Three police teams have been deployed to investigate the attack and identify those responsible.
Police are also examining the recent use of grenades in incidents suspected to involve organised crime groups in the Western Province.
According to information reported by local media, five grenade attacks suspected of being linked to organised crime groups have been recorded so far this year, including three within the Mount Lavinia Police Division.
Authorities are continuing investigations into the source of the weapons and those responsible for the attacks. (Newswire)
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