Indian Army to help de-mine Sri Lanka

New Delhi, July 6 (IANS) After providing medical services to thousands displaced by war, Indian soldiers will now go to Sri Lanka to help de-mine areas once held by the Tamil Tigers, it was announced Monday.

The military personnel will be part of Indian experts who will assist authorities in Sri Lanka to detect and defuse thousands of mines laid by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told the media here.

'We will send experts and equipment to Sri Lanka. Yes, this will possibly include army experts,' Menon said.

India deployed troops in Sri Lanka's northeast in 1987. The soldiers returned home in 1990 after suffering nearly 1,200 dead in a dragging war against the LTTE.

As the Sri Lankan military battled the Tamil Tigers this year, India sent military doctors to take care of the thousands escaping from LTTE territory. The medical personnel were first based in Sri Lanka's east and are now located in the north.

Menon's comments came shortly after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced in his budget speech that India would grant Rs.500 crore ($100 million) for the relief and rehabilitation of Tamils displaced by the fighting in the island's northeast.

Indo Asian News Service