Ethnic Cleansing Claim After Police Move Tamils at Gunpoint

Armed Sri Lankan police yesterday packed hundreds of ethnic minority Tamils into buses and drove them from the country's capital to war-torn northern and eastern districts - an effort, they said, to clear the city of "terrorists".

In a series of night raids, police stormed Tamil areas of Colombo and forced hotel guests to leave at gunpoint. In all, 291 men and 85 women were taken in seven buses to districts that are on the frontline of fierce fighting between Tamil separatists and the Sri Lankan army. Human rights groups described the police action as tantamount to ethnic cleansing.

The move caused uproar in parliament, which was adjourned after the government first denied the raids had taken place. Mano Ganesan, a Tamil MP who represents Colombo, told the Guardian: "People have been taken forcibly from their beds and dumped in buses. It may unwittingly strengthen the hand of the Tamil Tigers who want to split Sri Lanka because the police are saying 'go back to the north and east, that is your home'."

Human rights groups said the police action would "horrify the local Tamil population". Jehan Pereira, of Sri Lanka's National Peace Council, warned: "There is a sense that any Tamil can be targeted ... This could escalate out of control." Sri Lankan television showed rows of civilians aboard a bus with armed guards acting as escorts. One man told a local radio station: "The police came and took us and put everyone on the bus ... We don't know where we are being taken."

The move was also designed to root out insurgents in Colombo. Tiger guerrillas, who have been fighting for a separate homeland since 1983, were blamed for two bomb attacks that killed nine people and wounded 44 in the area last month.

Almost 40% of Colombo's 600,000 inhabitants are Tamil, a population swollen by those fleeing fighting. Tamils from the north and east are now required to obtain permits from the police to travel to the rest of the country.