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Tigers abduct 23 school children | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka have admitted kidnapping at least 23 students in the east of the country. A rebel spokesman told the BBC that junior Tiger fighters had made a "serious mistake" in taking the children from their school. Correspondents say that in the past the Tigers have always denied abducting children to use as soldiers. This year has seen a sharp increase in violence in Sri Lanka, with at least 3,400 people estimated dead. Rebel military spokesman Rasaiah Ilanthirayan told the BBC Sinhala service that the junior Tigers who abducted the children had been expelled from the movement. He said that the children were being handed back to their parents. Forced conscription Earlier, army spokesman Brig Prasad Samarasinghe told the BBC News website that the children, mostly teenage girls, were abducted in the eastern Ampara area. Brig Samarasinghe said 21 girls and three boys, all teenagers, were preparing for a school examination when they were picked up by the rebels on Monday evening. "The incident was reported to the local police. The police have informed the peace monitors and the human rights commission," he said. Brig Samarasinghe said the children could have been taken away for "forced conscription". The issue of child recruitment has been a major point of difference between government, human rights and international organisations and the rebels. The Tigers have in the past denied recruiting child troops. But they have been accused repeatedly of doing so by human rights groups and the UN throughout Sri Lanka's years of conflict. The leader of a breakaway faction of the Tigers now, Colonel Karuna, has also been accused of recruiting child soldiers. Last month, the United Nations children's agency, Unicef, said that "elements in the Sri Lankan military" were helping Col Karuna to abduct children to fight the Tamil Tigers. A senior UN official said there was "credible evidence" that troops had rounded up children to fight with the renegade rebel group. The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for independence for the 2.5m-strong minority Tamil community in the north and east of the country. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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India's frustration with Sri Lanka over Tamils