New Delhi  - A 31-year-old man committed suicide in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu Thursday to highlight the suffering of members of the Tamil ethnic minority caught in the war in Sri Lanka, news reports said.

The man doused himself with kerosene and set himself on fire while chanting pro-Tamil slogans outside a federal government office complex in the state capital, Chennai, the CNN-IBN network reported.

He was moved to a nearby government hospital with burns over 75 per cent of his body and died shortly after being admitted.

Before committing suicide, he also shouted slogans accusing the Indian government of inaction in protecting Tamils in Sri Lanka, the news channel reported.

Tamils in the southern Indian state, estimated to number about 60 million, have close links with Sri Lanka's Tamils.

Police later said the man used to work at a magazine owned by the Pattali Makkal Katchi, a regional party that is a staunch critic of the Indian government on the Sri Lanka issue.

Over recent weeks, political parties in Tamil Nadu have expressed concern over the safety of Tamil civilians caught in fighting in Sri Lanka between the government and Tamil separatist rebels and have pressed the Indian government to monitor their plight.

Aid agencies estimated that 250,000 civilians were trapped in rebel-held areas in northern Sri Lanka where the fighting is raging. The government said the figure might be around 150,000.

The government earlier denied a widely circulated report that claimed more than 300 internally displaced persons had been killed and more than 1,000 injured in shelling in recent days. (dpa)