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by Ranga Jayasuriya

Eleven complaints of abductions have been reported from Batticaloa during the last week in an unexpected shift from the gradual decline of the ceasefire violations during the past three months, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said.

" Parents and the Brigade Headquarters in Batticaloa have complained to the SLMM that eleven young men aged 20-30 had been abducted during the last seven days," SLMM Spokesman Teitur Torkelsson told the Daily News. He said the Security Forces and "some parents" accused the LTTE of the abductions, however adding that the SLMM has yet to conduct an investigation to ascertain LTTE involvement.

A spokesman of the SLMM Batticaloa office said they had not yet been able to contact the LTTE for their response. "We tried to contact the LTTE local leaders on this regard, but did not succeed," he said adding that local monitors will soon commence an investigation into the series of abductions.

He said the SLMM will raise the issue when they meet LTTE Batticaloa political Chief, Kaushalyan on Monday for a regular monthly meeting between the LTTE and the SLMM.

He described the rise in abductions as "quite unusual", given the gradual decline of ceasefire violations in the East during the last few months.

In an interview with the Daily News last week SLMM Spokesman Torkelsson said the number of complaints on the ceasefire violation had been gradually declining with the November reporting the fewest number of ceasefire violations.

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