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The frightened children and youth had been hiding in the jungle along with weapons and other military gear belonging to the LTTE. According to STF sources, the commandos had rescued the group of young LTTE cadres comprising four girls and four boys after they had successfully intercepted a terrorist movement at a location close to the 212 milepost on the Akkaraipattu- Pottuvil main road. The group of terrorists had attacked the STF commandos who had been conducting a clearing operation in the area around 5 am on Tuesday. The STF personnel had overpowered the terrorist attack successfully, forcing them to flee. During the subsequent search, STF personnel found the eight frightened children hiding in the jungle along with weapons and other military gear belonging to the LTTE.
According to Defence sources, the seven LTTE child soldiers comprise boys and girls between the ages 14 and 16 years. There is also one cadre aged 20 years, who had been recruited as a teenager. It has been revealed that all of them had been forcibly recruited to the terrorist outfit at a very young age. They told the STF that they had been abducted from their parents by the LTTE at different times, forcibly given arms training and put into combat. According to the details obtained the rescued were from Vinayagapuram, Thirukkovil , Kanchankuda and Akkaraipaththu areas. Those rescued are: Males – Jeewarasa Sudan ((15), Perumal Sinnathambi (15), Dharmaratnam Ramesh (16), and Chamuth Nadan (20); Females – Selvarasa Suwarajini (15), Thuraisingham Sumana (14), Vigneswaran Vinoyani (16) and Thavarasa Rasika (14). During the search STF personnel also seized one claymore mine, one detonator, one detonator code, one wire roll, three anti-personnel mines, and one T-56 magazine with rounds along with some clothing and food items belonged to the LTTE. In addition, the STF officials said that they had noticed bloodstains on the ground, raising suspicions that several LTTE cadres had been seriously injured or killed in the confrontation with the STF. Some media reports said yesterday (August 29) that the Special Task Force had ambushed a group of LTTE cadres comprising 14 child soldiers in the same area on Tuesday (August 28) morning. They claimed the 14 child combatants were being taken to be handed over to the parents via UNICEF. The UN Children’s Fund sources have also said they were unaware of any arrangements to hand over these children to it. However, the rescued child soldiers, as well as the adult cadre have revealed that they were unaware about where they had been led to by the senior LTTE cadres, though they were eagerly waiting to desert the outfit. According to STF officials it is highly unlikely that LTTE was taking the child soldiers to be handed over to UNICEF as the terrorists had launched several attacks at STF personnel in the same area during last few days. The STF that arranged for the children to be reunited with their parents has released photographs when the parents met their children. Defence sources say that on seeing their long-missing teenage daughters, the mothers burst into tears and cursed the LTTE leader for destroying their young lives.
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Commandos
of the Police Special Task Force (STF) on Tuesday (August 28) rescued
seven child combatants and a 20-year old youth who had been forced by
the LTTE to engage in a terrorist attack against the security forces in
the Kangikaidichchi Aru area in the East.
On
inquires, the children have revealed that they had come to attack the
STF with a group consisting of about 50 other LTTE terrorists. They have
said the terrorist group had attacked the STF with rocket-propelled
grenades and T-56 weapons during the firefight on Tuesday morning.
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