Category: Defense

August 30, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s army on Friday reprimanded senior officers accused of leading a deadly crackdown earlier this month on villagers who were demonstrating against contaminated water, the military said.She is visiting Sri Lanka in connection with allegations that troops killed up to 40,000 civilians in the final stages of the war […]

COLOMBO, July 19, 2013 (AFP) – European parliamentarians Friday asked Sri Lanka to deliver on promises to investigate allegations of war crimes and ensure ethnic reconciliation more than four years after crushing Tamil separatists.A delegation of EU lawmakers requested Colombo ensure accountability in the face of what the UN calls “credible allegations” of up to […]

LONDON, July 17, 2013 (AFP) – Britain has issued export licences worth £12 billion ( billion, 14 billion euros) for the sale of military equipment to states deemed possible rights violators including Syria, Iran and China, lawmakers said Wednesday.But the report also raised concerns about a further five countries for which licences were issued: Argentina, […]

May 31, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka and Thailand Friday called for enhanced defence and maritime security cooperation to tackle terrorism, President Mahinda Rajapakse’s office said.The two countries agreed to share more intelligence at the start of an overnight visit to Sri Lanka by Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the presidential secretariat said in a […]

May 19, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy Sunday recovered the body of a sailor who drowned during a parade marking the fourth anniversary of the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels, an official said. The body was found near a beach in Colombo where his small boat capsized while taking part in the victory celebrations […]

Apr 28, 2013 (LBO) – The United States is providing Coast Guard training as part of a maritime security co-operation program, the US embassy in Colombo said.One Sri Lankan officer will graduate from his four month training in May and the other will complete his three month training in June 2013. A batch of 20 […]

Oct 05, 2012 (LBO) – Maldives an Indian Ocean tourist paradise and the US are conducting joint military exercises to boost military interoperability between the forces of two countries and skills training, the US embassy in Colombo said. The participating U.S. units are mainly from I Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Pendleton, California, with […]

Aug 09, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has unearthed over eight hundred thousand mines and improvised explosive devices from the island’s former war zone since the thirty year conflict ended in 2009, a top government official said. Secretary to the ministry of Defence and urban development Gotabaya Rajapaksa told an international defence conference in Colombo […]

July 13, 2012 (LBO) –Sri Lanka Army’s involvement in civilian affairs in the former war zone has become ‘very minimal’ three years after it crushed the separatist Tamil Tigers and helped restore normalcy in the region, a top military officer said. Army chief Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya told reporters that the Army is confined to […]

May 20, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse has signed papers to pardon jailed ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka, his aide said Sunday, a day after the island marked three-years since defeating the Tamil Tigers. Rajapakse inked the papers on Friday evening and passed them to his chief-of-staff, his spokesman Bandula Jayasekera said. The […]

May 19, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s president on Saturday, rejected demands to remove military camps in the island’s north and urged international co-operation to modernise the country. We must ask if we in a position to remove the armed forces camps in the north and reduce our attention national security. That is not possible, […]

May 17, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers on Thursday agreed to free jailed former army chief Sarath Fonseka, President Mahinda Rajapakse’s aide said, paving the way for the retired four star general’s imminent release. Fonseka lead troops in a spectacular military campaign against the Tamil Tiger rebels that ended the island’s decades […]