Paramilitaries release two TRO workers

TRO press release on abductions

Statement from released TRO staff members

"Ms Punniyamoorthy Nadeswary and Ms Chitravel Sivamathy, both pre-school teachers, said that at 8 p.m. Sunday a white van stopped their vehicle 500 meters from the SLA checkpoint.

"Armed men from the van blind-folded five of us and took us to an unknown location. We told the abductors, who spoke Tamil, that we live close to the Vavunathivu SLA camp. After more questioning the gunmen brought us to the Vavunathivu area and released us.

"We were threatened not to divulge any information on what happened to us. We don't know the whereabouts of the other three teachers and of the vehicle we were travelling," said the released teachers.

Members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and Director of the Batticaloa Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), Mr Ceaser, Wednesday visited the area in Welikande where the alleged abduction occured, according to sources.

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