VILNIUS, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Lithuanian police said on Saturday they were investigating several metal cylinders found leaking an unidentified powder in a sensitive zone near the country's nuclear power plant.

The cylinders were found in a forest about seven km (four miles) from the Ignalina nuclear plant in northeast Lithuania.

"It is not radioactive, but its origin is still unclear," said a police officer for the district of Zarasai, in whose territory the powder was found.

"The samples are going to be examined at the laboratory of the environmental protection agency," he told Reuters.

"We are guarding the site and waiting for the results of examination," the officer added.

The cylinders were found two km (just over a mile) from a village which had not been evacuated, Lithuanian television said.

Unexploded bombs and shells are often found in rural areas and forests in Lithuania which have remained from World War Two.

The Soviet-era Ignalina plant, which has the same type of reactor as caused the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, will be closed in 2009 for safety reasons under a deal with the European Union.

AlertNet news is provided by