Friday, May 20, 2005
LTTE recruited 137 children since tsunami: UNICEF
Press Trust of India
May 20
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have recruited 137 children into their ranks since the Indian Ocean tsunami, nine of whom were directly taken from relief camps, the U.N. Children's agency said today.
The children were between 14 and 18 years old, said Geoffrey Keel, UNICEF spokesman in Colombo.
"There have been 137 cases of child recruitment since the December tsunami," he said, adding that nine of the recruits had been taken from tsunami relief camps in Sri Lanka's Tamil-majority north and east, parts of which are under guerrilla control.
The rebels have been known to recruit children to bolster their ranks in their two-decade war for a separate Tamil homeland. Sri Lankan troops and the rebels have been observing a cease-fire since February 2002.
Children accounted for a staggering 40 percent, or 12,000, of Sri Lanka's tsunami death toll of at least 31,000.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.