According to the defence sources in Vavuniya, a group of people were detected inside a jungle 3 Km east of Omanthai Entry Exit point and they were trying to come out amidst small arms fire by LTTE. Security forces retaliated and rescued 8 people alive, said the sources.

Later, three members of the same group were found dead.

Also, three of the rescued suffered injuries and were rushed to the General Hospital Vavuniya, sources said.

The escapees have told the security forces that they were a group 14 Sinhalse fisherman who had been abducted by the LTTE while engaged in fishing in 20 Nautical Miles East of Puttlama and Kalpitiya on  February 10 and  March 2, 2007.

Once the abductees had reached Omanthai, a group of LTTE cadres have opened fire at them killing three.

The incident has been notified to the ICRC and the police is conducting further investigations, sources added.