Hundreds of Tamils forced from capital
Hundreds of ethnic Tamils have been rounded up and forced from Sri Lanka’s capital in what officials called a security precaution amid rising hostilities with Tamil Tiger rebels. Human rights advocates derided the move as “ethnic cleansing.”
The more than 300 Tamils expelled from Colombo this week were sent to the Tamil-dominated north and east, areas that have been beset by bloodshed for most of the last year as an ethnic war raged.
The military said at least five guerrillas were killed in the latest clash with rebels near the eastern city of Batticaloa.
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