Two rights campaigners, Father Praveen the Director of the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, and the Sri Lankan human rights campaigner, Ruki Fernando, have been detained by security forces in Kilinochchi, local sources said.
The sources said the activists were detained by officials from the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID), however Kilinochchi police gave contradicting reports.
According to a police spokesperson, the pair were taken in for questioning over an on-going investigation of an alleged armed criminal.
Another source, who called the police station in Kilinochchi, was told that no such persons were arrested by the police, but that a specially appointed unit of the TID was holding them at separate locations in the town.
The arrest comes just hours after residents in the Vanni reported a large-scale house to house search operation by heavily armed soldiers and police in the village of Kanakampikaikilam, in Kilinochchi.See related articles:
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Vanni fearful amid further arrests and intensified militarisation (16 Mar 2014)
Heavy military presence in Vanni following detention of campaigner and daughter (14 Mar 2014)