Sri Lankan troops and police detained 900 people in a major house-to-house search in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo Saturday as part of a major hunt for Tamil Tiger rebels, a top police officer told AFP.

Large parts of the capital were sealed off for seven hours during the sudden swoop carried out by 2,000 heavily armed soldiers and 2,400 policemen, Colombo's Deputy Inspector-General Pujith Jayasundara said.

"We are holding the men and women detainees at eight centres in the city and they are being released as their identities are established," Jayasundara said. "The screening of people started at dawn. We detained a total of 903 people."

The pre-dawn operation concentrated in Colombo's Wellawatte area where minority Tamils are concentrated, said residents who were not allowed to leave their homes while the search was underway.