The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that efforts are being made to ascertain whether a Sri Lankan was among two truck drivers taken hostage by an Islamic group called "Ansarul Sunnah" in Baghdad last Thursday.
"We are in touch with the Sri Lankan missions in Lebonon and Quatar in this regard, but so far no person who claimed to be a relative of the presumed Sri Lankan driver reportedly held captive has contacted the ministry," a ministry spokesperson said.
Quoting Al-Jazeera television, news agencies on Friday reported that two drivers, a Sri Lankan and a Bangladeshi have been abducted enroute to a US base in Iraq. But it was not clear whether the drivers taken hostage were working in Iraq or had entered Baghdad through a neighbouring country.
Al-Jazeera also reported that a video grab released by the abductors showed the Kuwaiti driving licence of a Sri Lankan bearing the name Dinesh Rajaratnam.
The Sri Lankan missions in Lebanon and Kuwait are trying to verify whether the person called "Dinesh Dharmendra" could be linked to the missing Sri Lankan or whether he is someone else, the Ministry of Foreing Affairs said.
