Colombo, Feb 29: A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber was killed and eight others injured in a blast near the Colombo harbour early on Friday.

Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara told IANS that a police party was searching a house in Aluth Mawatha in Modera near the Colombo harbour when a bomb suddenly went off there at about 6.10 am.

He said a suicide bomber had triggered the blast. Four police personnel and four civilians, including two women, were injured.

The police had earlier received information that a suicide bomber of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was hiding in the house.

It was not immediately known if the suicide bomber was a man or a woman.

Ambulances were rushed to the spot to evacuate the injured to the nearest hospitals. The area was cordoned off and investigations were on, the defence ministry said.