COLOMBO, Aug 15: Sri Lanka stepped up security on Tuesday after an unprecedented bomb attack on Pakistan’s ambassador the previous day and shut schools amid fears of rebel reprisals for an air raid that the guerillas claim killed 61 children.

Already tight arrangements in the capital were further strengthened while security forces across the country had been put on high alert, government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said.

Government spokesman Rambukwella said the authorities had taken a string of measures to further step up security across the country.

“As far as security is concerned we have beefed it up to the maximum now,” Rambukwella told reporters here.

The government, meanwhile, ordered all schools closed for fear they could become a retaliatory target. “The government officially announced that the August vacation will be advanced to Tuesday instead of next week,” an official said. “Parents have expressed concern that there could be retaliatory strikes.”

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said warplanes bombed an orphanage in the rebel-held Mullaitivu district on Monday, killing 61 girls and wounding 150 others.

The government denied it bombed an orphanage, saying it had targeted an LTTE training centre and that those killed could have been child soldiers.—AFP