Hundreds of insurgents have deserted their camps and fled into jungles since Friday after troops routed rebel strongholds Vaharai and Kathiraveli in the eastern Batticaloa district _ the scene of heavy fighting for months with over 500 combatants killed since October, according to the military.

Deputy military spokesman Maj. Upali Rajapakse said army troops have launched intensive patrols to prevent fleeing rebels from infiltrating into villages in the nearby Trincomalee district.

Fighting between the Tigers and security forces has escalated in the past few months as the government has stepped up attempts to rout insurgents from parts of the north and east.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 to establish an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's minority ethnic Tamils following decades of discrimination under the majority Sinhalese-dominated government.

A 2002 truce still exists on paper, but has virtually collapsed since the resurgence of large-scale fighting last year. Discuss this story Published: Wed Jan 24 08:50:44 EST 2007

While the Sri Lankan government and renegades led by breakaway rebel commander Karuna deny working together, Human Rights Watch echoed United Nations allegations that the abductions would have needed cooperation.

"After years of condemning child recruitment by the Tamil Tigers, the government is now complicit in the same crimes," Jo Becker, Human Rights Watch child rights advocate, said in a statement to mark the release of a new 100-page report. More... Discuss this story Published: Wed Jan 24 09:46:50 EST 2007

The government has flatly denied any military involvement.

The Karuna group, named after its commander, once a regional leader of the Tamil Tigers, split from the mainstream guerrilla group in 2004 with some 6,000 fighters.

The mainstream rebels attacked the renegades and claimed they had crushed the rebellion. However, the splinter group later began attacking the mainstream rebels and is widely believed to be cooperating with government forces.

In a report titled ``Complicit in Crime: State Collusion in Abductions and Child Recruitment by the Karuna Group,'' Human Rights Watch said the military has not taken any steps to stop the abductions because it is ``eager for an ally against the Tamil Tigers.''

Becker said the Karuna group mainly targets poor families for conscription.

``Not only do government forces fail to stop the abductions, but they allow the Karuna group to transport kidnapped children through checkpoints on the way to their camps,'' Becker said.

Human Rights Watch has also called on the U.N. to impose ``targeted sanctions'' on the Tamil Tiger rebels who are known to have used child soldiers for years because of the group's status as a ``repeat offender.''

The rebels have fought the government for more than two decades to create a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils following decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese-dominated state.

More than 68,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

A Norwegian-brokered cease-fire exists officially but a resurgence of violence since last year has resulted in the deaths of thousands of fighters and civilians. Discuss this story Published: Wed Jan 24 01:31:14 EST 2007