Mar 31 (PTI) Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga said she has committed "three" mistakes during her eleven-year reign, including dismissal of UNP-led government in 2004. Kumaratunga said she realised that an alliance with the Marxist JVP party was a mistake she committed while at the helm of affairs in the country. Similarly, she said, the UNP-led government of Ranil Wickremesinghe should not have been dismissed in 2004. more..

Mar 31 (AFP) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers Monday said they had released 22 child soldiers and disputed figures from the United Nations Children's Fund that the rebels still had hundreds of under-age fighters. The LTTE said they were also trying to locate families of 20 children still within their ranks. The guerrillas accused UNICEF, which lists several hundred children in LTTE ranks, of not updating its database. more..

Mar 31 (AP) The Sri Lankan government is offering would-be rebel suicide bombers nearly US$100,000 and a new life abroad to surrender themselves to authorities, the government said Monday. The offers has been made in red and yellow posters pasted on walls around Colombo, the scene of several recent suicide bombings blamed on the Tamil Tiger rebels. "Sri Lanka needs your life, your youth. Why are you throwing this away for (Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai) Prabhakaran," read the posters, more..

Mar 31 (PTI) Complimenting India for taking a consistently "good position" on the Sri Lankan ethnic issue, a senior Minister of the island nation today said implementation of Indo-Sri Lanka accord would help "end the feeling of isolation among Tamils in the country". "India has consistently taken a good position throughout on the ethnic issue barring some small groups in Tamil Nadu. All national parties in India have taken the same position on the matter," more..