But police still got a lot of evidence.
Via Daily Mail:
Fifteen people including six children died as explosions went off when Sri Lankan police raided a ‘suicide vest factory’ last night.
Police said three men blew themselves up as a blaze of gunfire erupted when they approached a jihadist hide-out near the eastern town of Kalmunai on Friday.
The bombs and gunfire killed three women and six children within the property, as well as another three suspected jihadists outside.
The battle took place in the area of Sainthamaruthu, 200 miles from Colombo where 253 people were killed in luxury hotels and churches on Easter Sunday.
Police backed by troops exchanged fire with those inside the house for over an hour, a military official said, adding that the bodies were recovered early Saturday following a search operation.
‘Troops retaliated and raided the safe house where a large cache of explosives had been stored,’ a military spokesman said in a statement.
The location was a suicide vest manufacturing hide-out, News First reported.
Earlier on Friday evening, a large bomb-making operation was uncovered at a raid in the Samanthurai area – around five miles away from the scene of the shootout.