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| S Lanka 'recruits child fighters' | S Lanka 'recruits child fighters' |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Sri Lankan government forces are recruiting child soldiers to fight against the Tamil Tiger rebels, the United Nations has said. | |
| A senior UN official said the troops had been rounding up children to fight with the renegade Karuna rebel group. | A senior UN official said the troops had been rounding up children to fight with the renegade Karuna rebel group. |
| Karuna is a breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers, which have themselves been accused of using child soldiers. | |
| A Karuna spokesman denied the allegations. He said his group offered protection to children from fighting. | A Karuna spokesman denied the allegations. He said his group offered protection to children from fighting. |
| Complicity | |
| But Allan Rock, a special adviser to the UN representative for children and armed conflict, said government forces had forcibly rounded up young Tamil children for the Karuna group. | But Allan Rock, a special adviser to the UN representative for children and armed conflict, said government forces had forcibly rounded up young Tamil children for the Karuna group. |
| "We encounter both direct and indirect evidence of... complicity and participation," he said of the government security services. | "We encounter both direct and indirect evidence of... complicity and participation," he said of the government security services. |
| Sri Lankan security forces rounded up children to be recruited by the Karuna faction Allan Rock, UN official Death and discipline | |
| The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra, in Colombo, said the scathing allegation, the first of its kind against the Sri Lankan government, was made after a fact-finding mission. | |
| Mr Rock spoke of 13 and 14-year-old children kidnapped from villages, and no arrests or investigation being carried out by the security forces. | |
| He said Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse had promised a full investigation into the allegations. | |
| Mr Rock said the fact that Sri Lankan troops were complicit in the recruitment of child soldiers meant that Tamil Tiger rebels would continue to do so, as it corroded the rule of law. | |
| At least 2,000 people have been killed in violence this year in Sri Lanka, the military and ceasefire monitors say. | At least 2,000 people have been killed in violence this year in Sri Lanka, the military and ceasefire monitors say. |
| The Tamil Tigers are fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east of the country, and claim that ethnic Tamils have suffered decades of discrimination at the hands of Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority. | The Tamil Tigers are fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east of the country, and claim that ethnic Tamils have suffered decades of discrimination at the hands of Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority. |