COLOMBO, Aug 5: An attempt on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s life was thwarted after police detected a huge cache of weapons and explosives hidden in a lorry proceeding to a southern town where the President was due to make a public appearance, according to newspaper reports.

The Colombo-based Island newspaper said on Saturday that information elicited from two LTTE suspects arrested along with the ammunition had revealed that the explosives were to be used in an assassination attempt on President Rajapakse, who is due to participate in a function at Galle district next week.

The paper said the two Tamil Tiger suspects had disclosed that the explosives were to be hidden in a house in a plantation and later transported to other places, police said.

Among the haul of explosives found stacked in a secret compartment in the lorry were 30 five-kilogram claymore mines, 50 kilograms of high power explosives, 200 electronic detonators and 288 rounds of ammunition.

Military sources said security has been heightened in Colombo and key southern districts in the wake of the weapon haul.