COLOMBO, Nov 8: Police in the Sri Lankan capital have seized an explosives-filled jacket usually worn by suicide bombers, raising fears of an assassination bid before next week’s elections, a top official said on Tuesday.

Police Deputy Inspector-General Pujith Jayasundara said an anonymous caller alerted police to the ‘complete suicide jacket’ abandoned along a lane in Colombo’s residential and commercial area of Kollupitiya.

“This is a complete suicide jacket that is usually worn by Tiger suicide bombers. We found it late last night after a telephone call received by the police emergency unit,” Jayasundara said.

Hindu Affairs Minister Douglas Devananda said he believed that he may have been a target for a suicide bombing after escaping several failed assassination bids blamed on the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

“I think they were trying to get me,” Devananda said.—AFP