Muslims offer prayers in Kandy under Sri Lankan Army protection

Sri Lankan troops today guarded mosques and facilitated Friday prayers as authorities stepped up security in the violence-hit Muslim neighbourhoods in Kandy district after four days of riots that have left at least two people dead. Several homes, businesses and mosques in the hilly Kandy district have been damaged in anti-Muslim riots, since Monday. The violence erupted after the death of a Buddhist Sinhalese man last week. To rein in communal violence, a state of emergency has been imposed by President Maithripala Sirisena's government.

A large number of Muslim-owned businesses in the island nation remained shut in protest against attacks by mainly Buddhist Sinhalese, but some shops in the Muslim neighbourhood opened today.
Army personnel and police constables patrolled outside mosques in Kandy where prayers were offered in open grounds in many places because mosques had been burnt or vandalised.
About 3,000 police, 2,500 army personnel and 750 special task forces have been deployed in Kandy to bring the situation under control.

"There were no incidents during the Friday prayers," a police official said, adding that investigators had stepped up the search for those who took part in the violence.