A 47-year-old father of three was hacked to death with a sharp weapon on Tuesday morning while returning home from dropping his daughter at her Advanced Level examination centre, Hiru News reported.
The victim was named as Ratnayake Bandara, a resident of Pandukabhayapura in Rambewa.
He was attacked at the Saliyapura–Mankadawala junction, within the Anuradhapura headquarters police division, and died of his injuries.
Police say suspects are identified
Anuradhapura headquarters police said the suspects linked to the killing have already been identified and that operations are under way to arrest them.
The criminal investigation branch of the Anuradhapura headquarters police is conducting further inquiries.
What has not been reported
Hiru did not report a motive, say how many suspects are being sought, or indicate whether the attack was targeted or the victim was known to his attackers. It did not say whether the daughter has been informed or whether she completed her paper.
No other verified newsroom carried the killing at the time of writing.
Context
The 2026 Advanced Level examination began on 9 August with 372,310 candidates sitting across the island, and papers were still running on Tuesday.
The killing is a separate incident from two other recent attacks in the archive: a man hacked to death at a party in Kekirawa on 23 August, also in the Anuradhapura district, and a woman killed in Nuwara Eliya on 30 August. No outlet has linked the three.
