BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | More arrests after Sri Lanka attack

Another 12 people have been taken in for questioning following the arrest of six suspects at the weekend.

Officials said they were also trying to establish where weapons used in the attack, which took place in the centre of Colombo, had been stored.

The six who were detained soon after the attack had travelled to the capital from the war-torn north.

Police took them in after recovering documents from suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bombers involved in the attack.

Special team

Investigations are being conducted by a special police team, which is looking into how security was breached on a route that leads to the heavily-guarded parliament building.

Officials said the guerrillas had apparently intended to ambush a motorcade of government ministers and senior officials - including Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte - on Friday after they left parliament. Crowd inspects attack site

But one guerrilla blew himself up after being spotted in a Colombo street before the motorcade set out.

Twenty-three people, including 14 civilians, died as police and rebels engaged in a gun battle in crowded streets. Some 80 people were injured.

Peace efforts

The following day, four of the attackers blew themselves up as commandos raided a block of flats in eastern Colombo, and security forces killed a fifth rebel during the raid.

The latest attack came amid efforts to organise peace talks between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, with Norwegian mediation.

The guerrillas are fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east.

President Kumaratunga said she was still willing to talk to the Tamil Tigers to find a political solution to the long-running conflict, which has claimed over 55,000 lives in the past two decades.

The president herself narrowly escaped assassination in a December suicide bomb attack, which killed 26 people.

Related to this story:
Rebel attack in Sri Lanka (10 Mar 00 | South Asia)
Analysis: Fifteen years of bloodshed (18 Dec 99 | South Asia)
What chance peace in Sri Lanka? (23 Feb 00 | South Asia)
Sri Lanka peace meeting hits snag (21 Feb 00 | South Asia)
Tigers release four captives (28 Feb 00 | South Asia)
Fighting overshadows peace mission (15 Feb 00 | South Asia)
Fighting escalates in Sri Lanka (01 Jan 00 | South Asia)

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More arrests after Sri Lanka attack