COLOMBO: The United Nations agency for children welcomed on Wednesday the release of 11 child soldiers by a Tamil militant group and called for the freeing of all under-age combatants.
A pro-government Tamil militant group known as the TMVP freed the children from their ranks, Unicef said.
“Whilst this is an encouraging development, we continue to look forward to the release of all children in the ranks of armed groups in Sri Lanka,” Unicef chief here, Philippe Duamelle, said in a statement.
He urged the TMVP to pursue the release of all children in its ranks. There are no figures on how many are in its service.
UN officials have accused the TMVP, led by Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan better known as Colonel Karuna, of enlisting boys and girls with the alleged support of government troops and police.
Sri Lanka has denied any collusion.
Karuna broke away from the main Tamil Tiger separatist movement in March 2004 and began cooperating with security forces. He played a key role in helping the military drive out the Tigers from the east of the island.
The main Tiger group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also faces international criticism over the recruitment of thousands of child soldiers, but the rebels have said they don’t deliberately target youth for recruitment.
However, Unicef maintains the names of hundreds of child soldiers who they say are with Tamil militant groups.
The LTTE has been fighting for autonomy for ethnic minority Tamils in the Sinhalese-majority island’s north and east since 1972, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.
KILLED IN CONFLICT: At least 93 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and another 686 injured during clashes with Tamil Tiger rebels last month, the prime minister told parliament on Wednesday.
Premier Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, in a statement to the 225-member national legislature, said 38 civilians were killed and another 21 wounded in March.
“The number of security personnel killed last month was 93 while another 686 soldiers and police were wounded,” Wickremanayake said.
His figures were higher than the numbers released by the defence ministry in their daily situation reports released to reporters here.
Another government minister told parliament last month that 104 soldiers were killed and 800 wounded in fighting in February.
The tolls disclosed in parliament show that 197 soldiers have been killed in February and March, while 1,486 have been wounded during the same period.
However, defence ministry figures say 156 security force personnel have died in combat since the beginning of this year.
Meanwhile, security forces killed at least 10 Tamil Tiger rebels in fighting across the embattled north on Tuesday, while three government soldiers were injured in action, the ministry said Wednesday.
The latest casualties raised the defence ministry rebel death toll this year to 2,724.—AFP
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