Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Sri Lanka's former civil war zone
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Sri Lanka's former civil war zone in a sign of solidarity with minority Tamils who are calling for regional autonomy to end a decades-old ethnic conflict.
Modi's visit to the region on Saturday comes a day after he called for greater autonomy for the Tamils during talks with Sri Lankan officials.
India has a strong interest in the issue because southern India is home to 60 million Tamils.
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Sri Lanka's quarter century civil war ended in 2009 when government forces defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were fighting to create a separate state for Tamils in the island nation's north and east.