However, Army Spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe told the Lanka Academic that despite the statement of these three teenagers with regard to the arms training camps in Batticaloa and Trincomalee, they will not bring this matter to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission's notice as they have no 'evidence to prove these children's allegation.'

But However the Mission's Spokesman Helen Olaffsdottir disclosed that her mission was 'following up' on these allegations. The Mission was also scheduled to contact UNICEF in an attempt for a breakthrough with regard to finding out the authenticity of these allegations.

The 15 year old boy along with three of his friends was abducted on July 27, 2005, while they were at a Hindu Kovil in Batticaloa. These youth were then taken to a LTTE camp in Kokkadicholai also in Batticaloa where they were given arms training.

"There were more than 70 children at this Kokkadicholai LTTE camp, who were undergoing arms training," this 15 year old escapee had said.

The other two escapees both 15 and 17 years old were abducted by Tiger cadres during the first week of this month in Trincomalee, after which they were then taken to an LTTE camp in Sampoor, and they were compelled to undergo arms training.

"More than 100 children of the same age range are receiving LTTE weapon training in this camp at Sampoor," the two teenagers had claimed.

Discuss this story Published: Thu Mar 9 09:32:34 EST 2006

Under the Norwegian-brokered truce, the rebels are barred from carrying or transporting weapons to or through government-controlled areas.

``There is no other group operating in the area other than the LTTE. If they had brought the grenades and hidden them, it is definitely a cease-fire violation,'' Samarasinghe said.

Although unable to immediately confirm the report, independent truce monitors warned that the rebels may have breached the agreement.

``We are checking on the details, but if the weapons were found in areas under the control of the Sri Lankan army then it is a violation of the cease-fire,'' said Helen Olafsdottir, a spokeswoman for a European cease-fire monitoring team.

Jaffna is located 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of the capital Colombo.

Separately Thursday, unknown gunmen shot dead a 21-year-old Tamil, Govinda Vijayarasa, as he traveled in a public bus in Batticaloa district in eastern Sri Lanka - , Samarasinghe said.

The motive for his killing in Iruthayapuram town, 220 kilometers (135 miles) east of Colombo, and its perpetrators are unknown, he said.

Sri Lanka - 's predominantly ethnic Tamil northeast, centered around the hub of Jaffna, was the scene of a nearly two-decade civil war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels who accuse the majority Sinhalese of discrimination against minority Tamils.

Discuss this story Published: Thu Mar 9 07:59:22 EST 2006

S.B. Dissanayake, the UNP national organizer, told reporters here Thursday that his party would be extending its fullest support to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's peace plans.

"The problem cannot be solved within a unitary framework," Dissanayake said, referring to Rajapakse's public pronouncements that the island's unitary nature must be preserved in looking for a solution to the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels. More... Published: Thu Mar 9 17:12:12 EST 2006