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New York based UNICEF office in a press release accused the LTTE terrorists for recruiting children under 17 years of age as combatants and stated that today the children are "being forced to feel the heat of battle" in Sri Lanka, where fighting in Jaffna over the last few days has been putting children and women at enormous risk. "It is a matter of grave concern for us that children in Northern Sri Lanka once again are experiencing the trauma of warfare and displacement," said Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF in the press release. Bellanmy appealed to leaders on all sides of the conflict to view children as "zones of peace" and take all possible measures to protect them from the effects of the war. "Children are experiencing the heat of battle, both as victims and as combatants," she said. She said that despite commitments by the LTTE not to recruit children under 17 years old, the practice appeared to be continuing. UNICEF believes the children being used as combatants in Sri Lanka are mainly between the age of 15 and 17. She noted that just last week UNICEF had raised the issue of child soldiers in Sierra Leone. "It's a shame that we see these violations developing just when the world is pushing to end the practice of using children to fight wars," Bellamy said. She pointed out that UNICEF is taking part in an international conference on child soldiers this week in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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