AFP, Colombo

A police officer was killed and another critically wounded yesterday when troops opened fire on an undercover unit during a drug raid at a hotel in Sri Lanka, local police said. The unit was part of a major anti-narcotics drive codenamed “Yuktiya,” or justice, which police said had resulted in over 17,000 arrests in the past three weeks. The undercover officers were at a beach hotel in Weligama, a popular surf spot on the island nation’s southern coast, a police officer told AFP by phone, speaking on condition of anonymity. Army troops deployed to reinforce local police in the anti-drugs campaign rushed to the area to investigate an unrelated shooting and opened fire at a van speeding away from the scene, the officer said. “They did not realise that there were officers from the Colombo Crime Division in the van leaving the hotel,” the officer said.