2 Tamil rebels held with arms, 800 others rounded up

COLOMBO, Jan 7: Police arrested two Tamil rebels armed with bombs as security officials aided by anti-terrorist commandos raided suspected rebel hideouts, reports AP.

The rebels, each concealing a bomb, were arrested early today in the eastern district of Ampara, said Assistant Superintendent of Police H R Senaviratne.

Police said the rebels admitted that their targets were bus stations in the Buddhist temple town of Kandy, where Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese Buddhist believe a tooth relic of Buddha is kept. Two years ago, days before Sri Lanka's independence celebrations in February, rebels bombed the temple, killing 22 people.

Ampara, 210 kilometers east of Colombo, has a large number of Tamils.

Meanwhile, authorities lifted the curfew shortly after noon to allow Muslims to offer prayers ahead of the annual Eid festival. The curfew was imposed around midnight to allow security forces to conduct door-to-door searches for Tamil guerrillas.

The state-run Roopavahini television network said the sweep was being done to ensure security in Colombo, where 50 people were killed in the three attacks blamed on Tamil suicide bombers.

In Colombo, police took in about 800 people for questioning, said Deputy Inspector General of Police Jagath Jayawardene.

The suspects, almost all from the Tamil minority, were taken to police stations for questioning. It was unclear whether they had links to the Tamil separatist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which has been blamed for three recent suicide attacks.

At Narahenpita district, police picked up a 16-year-old Tamil maid from a Sinhalese home after they found out that she had not registered herself with the police. All Tamils living in Colombo must register themselves with the police. The Tamils oppose it, saying such rules should be applicable to all people.

Some 4,500 security officials fanned out across Colombo to search for Tamil rebels and their sympathizers, a police official said on condition of anonymity.

The security clampdown came a day after police arrested the parents and a sister of a woman whose blew herself up outside the prime minister's office and killed 13 people.