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Colombo curfew lifted after rebel hunt

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan authorities said an overnight curfew imposed in the capital Colombo had been lifted on Friday with immediate effect.

A senior government official told Reuters the curfew was lifted an hour and a half earlier than scheduled.

Sri Lankan security forces had sealed off the city in a hunt for Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam guerrillas after receiving intelligence reports that several rebel suicide bombers had infiltrated the city.

Hundreds of Tamils were detained by police in the cordon-and-search operation that began around midnight on Thursday when the curfew was imposed.

Thousands of soldiers and police launched the search after a woman suicide bomber blew herself up outside the prime minister's office on Wednesday, killing 13 people and wounding 24.

The LTTE is fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east since 1983. More than 55,000 people have been killed in the fighting.-Reuters