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Tiger intelligence leaders killed amid child recruitment
Colombo, May 06: Two Tamil Tiger intelligence operatives were shot dead in eastern Sri Lanka today amid allegations that the guerrillas had launched a fresh recruitment drive of child soldiers, officials said.
Colombo, May 06: Two Tamil Tiger intelligence
operatives were shot dead in eastern Sri Lanka today amid
allegations that the guerrillas had launched a fresh
recruitment drive of child soldiers, officials said.
The two were gunned down at Eravur in the Batticaloa
district in what appeared to be a retaliatory attack for last
night's killing of a rebel loyal to the renegade Batticaloa
commander Karuna, police said.
The killings came amid a stepped up recruitment of child
soldiers in the island's northern region of Wanni, local
officials and residents said.
Tamil Tigers have begun enlisting young fighters in the
northern Wanni district in the past two weeks after
demobilising nearly 1,000 child soldiers who were loyal to
renegade Karuna, a local official said.
"We can confirm that a recruitment of children on behalf
of the LTTE is underway in the Wanni," said Agnes Bragadottir,
a spokesman for the Sri Lanka monitoring mission.
However, she said they were unaware of the exact numbers that had been recruited into the ranks of the LTTE, but they were in touch with the Unicef on the matter.
The Tiger recruitment effort came as Norway stepped up efforts to try and revive stalled talks between the tigers and the Colombo government to end a 32-year struggle for a separate Tamil homeland that has left 60,000 dead.
Bureau Report
However, she said they were unaware of the exact numbers that had been recruited into the ranks of the LTTE, but they were in touch with the Unicef on the matter.
The Tiger recruitment effort came as Norway stepped up efforts to try and revive stalled talks between the tigers and the Colombo government to end a 32-year struggle for a separate Tamil homeland that has left 60,000 dead.
Bureau Report