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Curfew imposed near Lankan capital

COLOMBO: Police clamped a 10-hour curfew on Saturday in a district adjoining Sri Lanka's capital and picked up 1,400 people for screening, almost all Tamils, during a massive search operation for Tamil rebels, officials said.

The curfew in the industrial district of Gampaha, which adjoins Colombo and is home to about 800,000 people, began at midnight GMT and would continue until 1000 GMT, officials said.

"The purpose of this curfew and search operation is to apprehend terrorists who may be hiding in the area to carry out attacks on Colombo," Inspector-General of Police Lucky Koddituakku Koddituakku told The Associated Press.

The road of Sri Lanka's only airport, 35 kilometres from the capital, passes through the district.

In another part of the country, commandos from the antiterrorist Special Task Force threw a cordon late Friday around Ampara, 210 kilometres east of Colombo. Two hundred people were picked up and 150 were released overnight, said a police official who asked not be named.

Security has been stepped up in and around the capital after a string of bombing attacks believed to have been carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the main rebel group, last month. Colombo has military barriers and checkpoints on almost all central roads.