Officials on Sunday said that Sri Lanka’s military opened fire to contain rioting at a fuel station as unprecedented queues for petrol and diesel were seen across the crisis-hit country.

On Saturday night as their guard point was pelted with stones, army spokesman Nilantha Premaratne said that the troops fired in Visuvamadu, 365 kilometres (228 miles) north of Colombo.

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“A group of 20 to 30 people pelted stones and damaged an army truck,” Premaratne told AFP.

According to police, civilians and three soldiers were wounded when the army opened fire for the first time to quell unrest linked to the worsening economic crisis.

As the pump ran out of petrol, several motorists began to protest and the situation escalated into a clash with troops.

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Presently, the island-nation is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence, with the country unable to find dollars to import essentials, including food, fuel and medicines.

Sri Lanka, with 22 million population, has been enduring acute shortages and long queues for scarce supplies while President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has for months resisted calls to step down over mismanagement.

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Sri Lanka has deployed armed police and troops to guard fuel stations.

A motorist was shot dead by police in April at the central town of Rambukkana when a clash erupted over the distribution of rationed petrol and diesel.

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Four out of five people in Sri Lanka have started skipping meals as they cannot afford to eat, the UN has said, warning of a looming “dire humanitarian crisis” with millions in need of aid.