Sri Lankan government releases 1,800 former Tamil rebels

The Sri Lankan government has released 1,800 rehabilitated former Tamil tiger rebels, Xinhua reported.

The former Tamil rebels, who underwent various vocational training at seven military-run rehabilitation centres over the last two years, were those who surrendered to the Sri Lankan army at the end of the civil war in May 2009.

On Friday, these people were released during a ceremony held at the President's House.

Over a thousand other former Tamil Tigers, who are yet to be cleared from courts, are still undergoing training in masonry, carpentry, tailoring and agriculture as part of the rehabilitation process.