Four youths abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 December 2006, 11:38 GMT]
Unidentified armed men abducted four youths at gun point Monday around 11:00 p.m from Santhiveli, Palayadi Thona area in Batticaloa district while they were sleeping at their houses, according to a complaint made Thursday by the relatives of the abducted at Earavur police station, Eravur police said.

The abducted youths, Velupillai Yogeswaran, 16, Kanagaratnam Thusanthan, 16, Kanthasamy Sivaraj, 15, and Muthusamy Pathmarasa, 18, are all residents of Santhiveli Palayadi Thona area.

Yogeswaran and Kanagaratnam worked as building masons while Sivaraj helped his father in fishing. Pathmarasa was working in a private establishment in Batticaloa.

Residents of the area allege that the youths were abducted by Karuna paramilitary group cadres.

Santhiveli is located 22 km north of Batticaloa town.