Two security officers have been arrested in connection with an explosion on board Maldives President Abdullah Yameen’s speedboat last month.

Officials have also said for the first time that the explosion was an assassination attempt.

The president and his entourage were returning from the Hajj pilgrimage on 28 September. He was unhurt, but his wife and two aides were injured.

Initially the government said mechanical failure might be to blame.

“We are now being told that it is likely to have been an attempt on the president’s life,” minister at the President’s Office Mohamed Shareef told the AFP news agency.

He said that the mechanical failure theory had been ruled out by investigators from the US, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Sri Lanka.

The two people arrested on Tuesday had access to the vessel “in the line of their duty,” Mr Shareef said. However he did not say if they had any direct role in the attempted killing.

-BBC

• EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY
• NCM date fixed: Wimal requests earlier date
• Dayasiri questions inaction against Jaya Sudhir Jayaram
• Malwatte Mahanayake questions US Ambassador on defence agreement
• Presidential pardon for Venerable Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero