Sri Lanka police ask public to hand in blades following bomb

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Police in Sri Lanka have requested members of the public hand over swords or other large knives to the nearest police stations after hundreds of such blades were discovered in Mosques and homes during searches in the aftermath of Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said Saturday that those possessing knives used for day-to-day legal purposes need not hand them over.

In addition to illegal blades, Gunasekara said searches uncovered large amounts of camouflaged materials similar to those worn by the military.

He said those too needed to be handed over to police on Saturday and Sunday.

More than 250 people were killed and hundreds were wounded when Islamic extremist suicide bombers attacked three churches and three tourist hotels in Sri Lanka on April 21.