New Delhi  - India on Sunday asked the Sri Lanka government to take care of the thousands of Tamils caught up in the war between rebels and the country's military.

"We don't support the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), we have no sympathy with the LTTE, it is a terrorist organization," Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said a rally of Congress party workers in the Indian capital.

But India was concerned over the plight of Tamils caught in the battle between the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE.

"Almost 200,000 (of the) civilian Tamil population is caught up in the crossfire between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan troops," he said. "I appeal to the Sri Lankan government to provide them shelter, food and security."

India has a large population of more than 66 million Tamil people who largely live in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and speak the same 2,500-year-old language as Tamils in Sri Lanka.

There have been large protests in Tamil Nadu in support of a ceasefire in Sri Lanka and political parties from the state have been pressuring the Indian government to take up the cause of Tamil civilians.

A Congress party worker died in Nagapattinam town of Tamil Nadu on Saturday after he set himself on fire to draw attention to the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils.

Mukherjee also appealed to politicians in Tamil Nadu to make a distinction between the LTTE and Tamil civilians. dpa