KANDY, Sri Lanka, April 18, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Thousands of pilgrims camped overnight outside Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist temple in anticipation of Friday's display of a prized relic that will be shown to the public for the first time in 16 years.

Around 10,000 police have been deployed to safeguard the Temple of the Tooth as it launches a 10-day exhibition of what Sri Lankan Buddhists believe to be Buddha's left canine.

Police said armed troops will reinforce security at the 16th-century temple in Kandy, which was targeted by Tamil separatists in a 1998 suicide attack that killed 16 people.

"We expect about two million devotees to visit Kandy during the 10-day exhibition," a police officer told AFP.

"There will be airport-style security at the entrance," he added, warning that bags and cameras would be prohibited.

Classes in Kandy have been cancelled as the schools have all been repurposed to house the large number of security forces sent to the city.

Queues to enter the temple stretched over two kilometres (1.2 miles) before the exhibition was due to open on Friday afternoon, according to a live map updated by police.

Over a million people were estimated to have visited the UNESCO-designated temple when the tooth relic was last displayed in March 2009.

The 1998 bombing of the temple destroyed walls and windows, and in the process revealed 18-century murals that had been plastered over several times in the course of the site's history.

A section of the exposed murals is displayed in the temple's tightly guarded museum, which says they date back to between 1707 and 1739, a period when Kandy was the seat of the monarchy that ruled over the island.