COLOMBO - Sri Lankan police on Saturday arrested 266 people on the eve of independence day celebrations in a security roundup after finding a powerful bomb in the capital. The 2.5-kilo (5.5-pound) was found in a three-wheeler taxi parked in a garage near the R. Premadasa International cricket stadium, where troops are billeted, and defused by explosives experts.‘The police arrested people who could not immediately explain their presence in the area,’ said a police official involved in the investigation. ‘The discovery (of the bomb) was made following a tip-off’ and those arrested were being questioned, added the official, who declined to be identified.
Security was intensified in Colombo to counter possible attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) ahead of independence day celebrations on Sunday. Security forces armed with tough anti-terror laws increased road blocks and random checks the city of 600,000 people and were carrying out searches to counter any threat from Tamil rebels, a police official said.