A Civil Security Force soldier was killed in a wild elephant attack in the Rajagalathenna reserve in Ampara on Thursday morning, police said.
The victim was identified as E. Upali Wijewardena, 43, attached to the Bakkialla Civil Security Force, Hiru News reported.
The attack happened at around 7:00 a.m. while he was walking towards Navagiriyawa, within the Rajagalathenna Grama Niladhari division in the Bakkialla police area. He died at the scene, Bakkialla Police said.
Bakkialla Police have launched an investigation. Wildlife officers went to the location to establish whether the elephant involved remains in the area.
The wider toll
The death adds to a human toll from human-elephant conflict that has been rising this year even as elephant deaths have slowed.
The Department of Wildlife Conservation recorded 88 human deaths and 207 elephant deaths to 21 August, figures that showed the two curves moving in opposite directions — 56 human deaths had been recorded through the first seven months, meaning the toll on people worsened sharply in the weeks that followed.
Ampara sits in the eastern dry zone, where settlement and cultivation press directly against elephant habitat and encounters on foot are common. Deaths in recent months have followed a consistent pattern of people caught in the open — among them a 52-year-old motorcyclist killed at Medawachchiya in August, and a 43-year-old man killed at Ambanpola while trying to drive elephants away from his land, a case raised at World Elephant Day protests at Mahiyangana.
The conflict has also reached vehicles and rail. An elephant overturned a pilgrim bus near Kataragama this month, a car struck an elephant at Habarana in August, and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute has been developing AI-based thermal imaging cameras intended to prevent train collisions with elephants.
Not reported
Hiru’s account is the only one filed at the time of writing. It does not say whether the victim was on duty, whether the route he was walking is a known elephant crossing, or whether the area has electric fencing or an early-warning system. It gives no history of previous attacks at Rajagalathenna, does not say whether the elephant was later located, and carries no comment from the Department of Wildlife Conservation or the Civil Security Department.
