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LTTE INTENSIFIES CHILD AND YOUTH ABDUCTIONS WHILE TNA AND TAMIL NET BLAME OPPONENT KARUNA IS DOING THE SAME

By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles

While the Liberation of Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled website Tamil Net and the proxy group of the LTTE, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) giving prominence to alleged reports of child abductions by the Karuna group, LTTE has intensified its abductions in preparation for war in the month of June, military sources reported.

Karuna group is a breakaway faction of the LTTE, very dominant in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.

According to conservative estimates of the UN sources there are more than five thousand children already in the captivity of the LTTE living under some of the most abominable conditions in their secret military camps. According to the same sources no UN inspectors are allowed inside the camps for any independent assessment of their conditions.

Most of the abductions reported were from the Eastern province , the military sources said. The Tamil Net, alleged ,also quoting UNICEF sources, that Karuna group had abducted children from Santhiveli, Kiran, Mankerni, Valaichchenai and Iruthayapuram in Manmunai North all in the Eastern Province. Sri Lanka government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said that the LTTE proxy group the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) member had alleged that Karuna group were engaged in child abductions. The BBC Sinhala service the Sandeshaya which rarely gives publicity to the LTTE abductions gave immediate publicity to the allegation against the Karuna group. Keheliya Rambukwella said the government was investigating allegations against the Karuna group. The BBC Sinhala service is run by leftists sympathetic to the LTTE cause.

The latest abductions by the LTTE were reported from from the same province the group allegedly killed 65 passengers by bombing a bus very recently.

The Sri Lanka Army said an armed gang of five LTTE terrorists, two of them carrying T-56, forcibly entered the house of Thamotheram Pillai Amirthalingam at #136 Colony Road Manampitiya around 6 p.m. on June 23 .They abducted his son Amirthalingam Palakumar(16) a grade 11 student and Thangavelu Nimalanathan (18) a laborer of 237 Karapota . The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission was informed, the Army said. The police are investigating.

The Sri Lanka Army also reported a group of armed LTTE men abducted 8 youth from their homes from Kiran area about 5.30 p.m. , June 14 . The abductions were reported by the parents of three youth to the Eravur police , the Sri Lanka Army report said. The incidents were reported to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.

The army said in a related incident , June 6, a teacher who opposed the LTTE conscription of school children in Valachchenai area, in the Eastern Province was shot and injured by a suspected LTTE pistol man. The army report said the victim , Yogarajah Satheesvaran (24),was dragged out of a bus , hit and shot , making serious injuries to his head. At late night , the LTTE terrorist stopped the bus dragged him out of it shot him after severely beating him, the report said. He was admitted with head injuries to the intensive care unit of the Batticaloa Hospital. The report said, the terrorist , who got into the bus after following the victim , ordered the bus to be stopped on the way before dragging him out of it. The Valachchenia Police are investigating.

A 21 year old youth who escaped LTTE detention informed the Pothuvil Police that he saw 13 more others in chains at the LTTE camp for refusing to join their guerilla army. He said he was severely beaten and tortured as he refused to comply with their request to join LTTE guerillas. He surrendered to the Police for protection at 5.30 p.m. June 3. He said the LTTE men abducted him near their camp at Kachchikudy Aru where he was tortured with the others. On May 28 the victim escaped from the detention and started running until he reached the Police station on June 3. The others whom he saw chained at the LTTE camp were being tortured for their refusal to join military training, he alleged. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has been informed , the Army report said.

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