Curfew lifted after Lanka mosque attack

Sri Lankan police today said they were probing a clash between two groups over a religious site which left 12 worshippers injured.
A Buddhist mob yesterday allegedly threw rocks and vandalised a mosque the Grandpass district, prompting authorities to impose a curfew.
The police today lifted the curfew but put security forces on alert to avert any further violence.
The curfew was lifted, but we have deployed hundreds of security personnel in the area, a top police official said.
The police's elite Special Task Force was also deployed to maintain peace in the area after several government Muslim parliamentarians visited the site to bring the situation under control.

Police chief N K Ilangakoon said the situation was brought under control and urged people to refrain from believing misguided information.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy here expressed concern over the attack and demanded prosecution of perpetrators.
"This incident is particularly troubling in light of a number of recent attacks against the Muslim community in Sri Lanka. Targeting any place of worship should never be permitted and we urge calm from all sides.
We call for prosecution of perpetrators in this attack and an end to religious-based violence. The right of all Sri Lankans to practise the religion of their choice should be protected," it said in a statement.

Early this year, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had stressed the need for inter religious harmony following a campaign of Muslim hatred carried out by the Buddhist extremist group 'Bodu Bala Sena' (BBS).
The BBS has denied they were targeting the island's 9 per cent Muslim minority but claimed to have come forward to preserve the majority Buddhists' rights in the face of a threat from Muslim extremism.