Nov 12, Colombo: Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) has called on the government to pay compensation to the families of inmates who were killed during last Friday's riot at the Welikada Prison.

The UNP blaming that it is government's failure that had resulted in such a riot within the prison, says that the families needed to be compensated for the loss of the lives of their loved ones regardless of their backgrounds.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake issuing a statement said the government was trying to speak of the background of the persons who were killed in order to try and justify their deaths.

Some of the prisoners died in the clash at the high security prison were serving death sentences while others were prisoned for murder, rape, drug dealing and extortion.

One of the inmates killed was one of the two suspects involved in the murder of the two Kotte Raja Maha Viharaya monks.

The party called on the government to ensure that similar incidents would not take place in future.