Colombo, Feb 25: The Sri Lankan Government on Wednesday claimed that LTTE has nearly 6,300 child soldiers under the age of 18. 
Colombo, Feb 25: The Sri Lankan Government on Wednesday claimed that LTTE has nearly 6,300 child soldiers under the age of 18. "According to the latest figures, in December 2008, the total under age (below 18) recruitment by the LTTE was 6,287," an official release said adding, "of this 3,809 are boys and 2,478 are girls".
"There are claims that 2,059 such children or those recruited as children have been released, which requires verification," the statement by the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat said.
In a message on the eve of the Sri Lankan National Campaign against the Recruitment of Children for use of Armed Conflict, the country's President Mahinda Rajapaksa said this initiative was essential to prevent child recruitment.
"This special initiative is necessary because preventing child recruitment, in tandem with the freeing of all children already recruited and brutalised, is at the core of our final thrust to eradicate the scourge of terrorism from our nation," Rajapaksa said.
"We have watched our children suffer this terror, brutality and indignity for long enough," he added.
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