Child soldiers escape from LTTE http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Lanka&slug=Child+soldiers+escape+from+LTTE&id=85546&callid=1
Wednesday, March 8, 2006 (Colombo):
Three underage combatants pressed into service by the Tamil Tiger rebels have escaped from the group and surrendered to police and the Navy in northeastern Sri Lanka.
The combatants, aged between 15 and 17, escaped from two different camps in northeastern Trincomalee and eastern Batticaloa, military spokesman Brigradier Sudhir Samarasinghe said today.
The names of the youths were being withheld for security reasons, he said.
If confirmed, the accounts would contradict pledges made by the rebels to UN agencies that the group has stopped recruiting underage combatants.
Lucky escape
In the first case, Samarasinghe said the teenager managed to flee the camp in Batticaloa on March 4 and reported to police in Batticaloa on Tuesday. The 15-year-old will be handed over to his parents, he said.
"According to the boy there are around 70 combatants under training whom he thought were of his age," Samarasinghe said.
In the second case, two school boys aged between 15 and 17 were abducted from their homes in Trincomalee on March 1-2 by the rebels, according to a statement issued by the military's media unit.
They fled from the camp on Tuesday and took shelter at a naval camp in Trincomalee that night.
"These escapees have told naval troops that over 100 children of the same age are receiving LTTE weapon training," the statement said.
The rebels, who want autonomy for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million Tamil minority, are often accused of recruiting child soldiers.
UNICEF has said the Tamil Tigers have recruited 5,368 child soldiers since 2002, when the rebels and the government signed a ceasefire.
The rebels say that many child soldiers lied about their age to join the insurgency and that they have released thousands of underage combatants. (AP)