The Sri Lankan military has organised a mass wedding of more than fifty couples suspected to be from the Tamil Tiger rebel group at a ceremony in Vavunia.

Suspected former rebels are being held at a military-run camp following their defeat by government forces in May last year.

Sri Lankan army says many of the couples had been unable to marry earlier because they were fighting in the civil war.

"Freedom when?"

A BBC correspondent who attended the event says many now want to know when they will be freed from military custody.

The mass wedding was held under heavy military presence.

The director general in charge of rehabilitation, Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe said that the newly weds will be housed in a designated village.

"Arrangements have been made for their relatives to visit them," added Brigadier Ranasinghe.

More than ten-thousand Tamil Tiger rebels, who surrendered following the defeat of Tamil Tigers in May last year, are under military custody in northern Sri Lanka.