School buses were turned away at key colleges while even some international schools, where mostly children of expatriates study, were also closed amid the bomb scare, officials said.
"There is panic, total panic," a government security official said. "It is the work of some pranksters who had been calling hospitals and warning that there would be bomb attacks against schools.
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Parent Chandana Wijenaike said he did not send his daughter to Colombo's Museaus College as several other parents had telephoned him early morning saying they were not sending their children to school because of a bomb threat.
Students who went to the Asian International School were turned away.
Parents were seen rushing to schools to take back their children who had made it school at opening time.
The bomb scare came ahead of the funeral later Wednesday of army General Parami Kulatunga, who was killed in a suicide bomb attack Monday.
He was to be accorded a funeral with full military honours.
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