SRI LANKA ? The government will take full responsibility for the expulsion of hundreds of ethnic minority Tamils from Sri Lanka’s capital, the prime minister said Sunday, promising it would not happen again.

The expulsion of 376 Tamils was initially described as a security precaution amid a worsening ethnic conflict that has claimed more than 5,000 lives in 19 months, but it was roundly condemned by rights groups and donors, as well as the United States.

The government returned 186 of those expelled to Colombo and others chose to return to their hometowns, police said.

“I express regret regarding the shifting of people from here to various other places,” Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said at a news conference in Colombo. “That should have never been done.”

“The government accepts responsibility,” he said, adding that it will not happen again.