Prison guards taken hostage in northern Sri Lanka jail

Police spokesman Superintendent Sajeewa Madawatta said the three had been taken hostage last evening. The guards are locked up in a room.

The LTTE suspects are on a hunger strike since Wednesday demanding that a fellow inmate, transferred by the authorities elsewhere, be brought back.

The inmate is a key member of the LTTE and was transferred to the prison in the north central town of Anuradhapura.