Some 2,000 former Tamil Tiger guerrillas joined Sri Lanka's ruling party on Monday, formalising a political alliance, officials said. The former rebels are followers of a former war-lord who defected from the separatist Tamil Tigers in 2004 and formed his own political party which went onto win local elections in the island's east last year.
They enrolled with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) at a ceremony at President Mahinda Rajapakse's tightly-guarded residence, officials said.