"In addressing all these issues, the human rights and humanitarian concerns, human lives should be given the first and foremost priority,"

“internationally condemned as one of the most atrocious acts perpetrated against humanitarian aid workers”.

Cluster bombs found in Mullaiththeevu, January 2009. Courtesy of TamilNet

The confirmation comes after a young boy was killed and his sister injured after trying to prise apart explosive device for scrap metal to sell.

Cluster munitions are packed with small “bomblets” that break up upon release, spreading over a large area. They often indiscriminately harm civilians, lying unexploded long after their initial deployment, leading to them coming under intense international scrutiny.

In an email on Tuesday written by Allan Poston, the technical adviser for the U.N. Development Program's mine action group in Sri Lanka, he states,

“After reviewing additional photographs from the investigation teams, I have determined that there are cluster sub-munitions in the area where the children were collecting scrap metal and in the house where the accident occurred. This is the first time that there has been confirmed unexploded sub-munitions found in Sri Lanka,"

"Cluster sub-munitions are extremely dangerous items of (unexploded ordnance) and can explode with the slightest movement or touch,"

Sri Lankan government spokesman Lakshman Hulugalla immiediately said the military had not used cluster munitions.

"We are denying that information," he said.

Two children were killed by a landmine blast in Pazhai, Jaffna on Wednesday.

Thamilkumaran Mukunthan, 4, and his 2 year old brother Thanujan were killed after playing with a unexploded ordnance found near their house.

One child died on the spot and the other died on the way to hospital.

The children and their family recently resettled in Pazhai after it was declared free of mines by the government.

A Sri Lankan army soldier attacked and attempted to rape a 16 year old Tamil girl in the Nedungeeni area of Mullaitheevu district on Monday, reports Tamilwin.

The incident took place at around 10:30am, when the girl's parents were at work and her younger sister, at school. The soldier, who has been deployed to that locality to conduct government registration, entered the house.

No sooner had the cross-party Indian delegation, led by the opposition Lok Sabha leader Sushma Swaraj, left Sri Lanka than the Sri Lankan government began refuting Indian press reports that the president had assured Swaraj of implementing the 13th Amendment and going beyond.

Sri Lankan Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya has backtracked from statements made by him at an event in Kurunegala.

According to the Daily Mirror the headquarters of the Sri Lankan Army has said there was an error on the Sri Lankan Army website in regards to his speech and has amended it accordingly.

Sri Lanka's security and intelligence agencies launched a search operation in the Eastern province looking for 'ex-LTTE cadres' who had returned from overseas, the Daily Mirror reports.

Authorities have stated that individuals that had not gone through the government's 'rehabilitation' program would be detained, questioned and their details registered.

President Mahinda Rajapakse ‘personally’ instructed the Sri Lankan military to pursue the military operations in 2009, despite enormous international pressure, the army commander has revealed.

Speaking to soldiers at an event in Kurunegala, the head of the Sri Lankan Army Jagath Jayasuriya said President Rajapakse was ‘determined’ to see the operations through till the end.

Last Friday a mob of about 2,000 Sinhalese, led by a group of Buddhist monks, stormed into a mosque in Dambulla.

The mosque and a Hindu temple have been long standing in an area now designated a sacred Buddhist site.