Sri Lanka shuts rehab camp for rebel child soldiers

Sri Lanka closed a camp holding former Tamil Tiger child soldiers, but 52 of the youths will stay in government care to complete their education, an official said.

Sri Lanka on Tuesday closed a camp holding former Tamil Tiger child soldiers, but 52 of the youths will stay in government care to complete their education, an official said.

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More than 500 child soldiers were picked up after security forces defeated Tamil Tiger rebels in a bloody final battle a year ago.

Most have since been reunited with their families, leaving 198 boys and girls when the facility in Colombo closed today, the commissioner general of rehabilitation Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe said.

"These children will now be released to their parents," Ranasinghe told AFP.

A Sri Lankan court in February ordered the camp, the only one of its kind, to be shut.

"During my time at the camp I made friends and learnt it is OK to trust (majority) Sinhala people," said 17-year-old Lukshia, who spent three years with the female Tiger wing.

"I am sad to go, but happy I am going back to my family," she told AFP.