US State Department

Its human rights report published on Wednesday said overwhelming majority of victims of human rights violations, such as killings and disappearances, were young male Tamils

Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, but the government has also worked closely with Tamil paramilitary groups responsible for gross human rights violations, the report said.

The report says the LTTE, which maintained control of large sections of the north, continued to attack civilians and engage in torture and arbitrary arrest and detention.

“During the year nearly1,000 of the estimated 3,200 deaths associated with the hostilities between government security forces and the LTTE were civilians, according to public sources", the US State Department report said.

The report says both the LTTE and the Karuna group (also known as TMVP, or Pillaiyan group) used minors in battle.

The Karuna group and the LTTE also continued to recruit child soldiers forcibly, while intimidating and using violence against civilians, it said.

The LTTE instituted a "one family, one fighter" policy, forcing each family to provide at least one member, including children, to the LTTE, it added.