'It is not the practice of this high commission to comment on security issues in detail. Sri Lankan security authorities have apologised to Narayanan. We now consider this matter closed,' the statement said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told parliament on Tuesday that only a few Indian security personnel accompanied Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] during his visit to Colombo for the SAARC summit.

"Only a limited number of security personnel accompanied him which is usual when he goes overseas," the minister said.The foreign minister made this statement in response to a question by opposition member of parliament Ravi Karunanayake who wanted to know the number of security personnel that accompanied the Indian leader.

Bogollagama said any state leader is accompanied by a limited number of security officers when they visit overseas and the Indian prime minister also had his normal security detail.

Leader of the House and minister for healthcare and nutrition, Nimal Siripala de Silva, also told the House that he had earlier denied reports in parliament that 3,000 Indian soldiers would arrive in Sri Lanka [Images] to provide security for Singh. "If such a massive number of Indian soldiers had arrived it would have been prominent," de Silva said.

The Island newspaper, quoting informed sources, claimed Narayanan had travelled with Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon in the latter's motorcade, jointly escorted by Sri Lankan and Indian security services, to the venue of the SAARC summit in Colombo.

'Menon's motorcade had left without Narayanan who arrived at the main entrance to the conference hall after the sessions were over,' the newspaper quoted sources as saying. 'During high-level discussions between Sri Lankan and Indian security services to work out the entire range of security issues including motorcades, they hadn't allocated a specific vehicle for Narayanan,' the paper claimed.