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LTTE frees 23 recruits

B. Muralidhar Reddy

The students were taken away from a tuition centre

COLOMBO: The Tamil Tigers on Tuesday released 23 students "recruited" for military training on Monday night from Amparai district on the plea that they turned out to be under-age.

The release came after the Sri Lanka Army accused the LTTE of abducting the students from a tuition centre in Vinayagapuram in Amparai district and teachers of the students reportedly lodged a formal complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

A statement by the SLA said the LTTE abducted 23 students (seven boys and 16 girls) and two teachers on Monday night. It said the students were taken to the Tiger training camp at Kanchikudiaru.

It said the LTTE cadres, especially in the Batticaloa district are under severe pressure to recruit at least 300 youths. TamilNet quoted the LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan as saying that it was an "unfortunate episode" and the cadres responsible for the recruitment were removed from operational duty and an internal investigation was on.

Separately, the Sri Lanka Government took exception to appeals by the U.N. and other agencies to "both the parties" to cease hostilities and argued that considering the facts and figures of the current situation in Sri Lanka, the appeal seems "highly irrational, irrelevant and unrealistic."

In a statement, the Government said recently four tractor loads of displaced civilians tried to escape from the Tiger-held territory to the cleared area and the LTTE cadres beat the people. "All civilians who escape the Tiger grip and enter the cleared areas are Tamils. Isn't it strange that Tamils flee from their liberators and enter the cleared area?" the Government asked.

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