A powerful explosion occurred off the coast north of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo early on Friday.
COLOMBO: A powerful explosion occurred off the coast north of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo early on Friday, police said, adding it was probably a sea mine planted last week by Tamil Tiger rebels.
The explosion was heard about 15 kilometres from Colombo, near the site where police on Saturday arrested five Tigers in diving gear who were laying sea mines, Sri Lanka's police chief Chandra Fernando said.
"There are no reports of casualties. We are investigating," Fernando told AFP.
"Last week we had information that there were eight sea mines. Seven were accounted for but we had not found one. The blast today is probably that mine."
Officials said sea mines are similar to limpet mines but magnetically attach to a ship's hull and can be triggered to explode by a time-delay fuse or by remote control.
One of the five arrested divers had swallowed cyanide and committed suicide to prevent being questioned, and another two who took cyanide were taken to hospital.
At the time of the arrests, Fernando said the rebels had transported the mines in a freezer truck carrying fish.
"These are improvised sea mines but weighing about 10 to 15 kilograms (22 to 33 pounds)," Fernando said.
Navy spokesman P.D.K. Dassanayake said at the weekend it was the first time authorities had seen the use of magnetic mines by the Tigers, who have stepped up the use of Claymore mines on land to target military and civilian vehicles.
Friday's explosion came amid escalating violence which has severely strained a four-year-old truce between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
More than 60,000 people have died in the Tamil separatist conflict since 1972.
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