Police in Sri Lanka have requested members of the public hand over swords or other large knives to the nearest police stations after hundreds of such blades were discovered in Mosques and homes during searches in the aftermath of Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara says those possessing knives used for day-to-day legal purposes need not hand them over.

In his comments Saturday, he did not say if police would give an amnesty to those surrender such weapons.

More than 250 people were killed and hundreds were wounded when Islamic extremist suicide bombers attacked three churches and three tourist hotels in Sri Lanka on April 21.