Colombo  - At least 54 persons arebeing held in connection with two bomb attacks in Sri Lanka's capital and the central part of the country in which 24 people died on Friday, police said Saturday.

Fifty-two were detained on the outskirts of Colombo where a claymore mine blew up a bus, killing 22 passengers and injuring 60.

Most of them were Tamil University students who were in a nearby hostel when the explosion took place at Katubedda, 10 kilometres south of the capital.

Two persons were being questioned over a second incident in the Polgolla area, 125 kilometres east Colombo, where two bus passengers died and 20 were injured after a bomb went off inside the vehicle.

Police and the army have stepped up search operations in the capital after blaming the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the two attacks. (dpa)