$100,000 offered to would-be bombers

The Sri Lankan government is offering would-be rebel suicide bombers nearly $100,000 and a new life abroad to surrender themselves to authorities, the government said yesterday.

The offers have been made in red and yellow posters pasted on walls around Colombo, the scene of several recent suicide bombings blamed on the Tamil Tiger rebels.

"Sri Lanka needs your life, your youth. Why are you throwing this away for (Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai) Prabhakaran," read the posters, which have been pasted on ethnic Tamil neighborhoods across the capital. The posters show a photograph of the severed head of a bomber.