Colombo, Sri Lanka (BBN)- At least 6200 troops were killed and nearly 30,000 wounded since 2006 when Sri Lankan began its current military offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels.
Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa disclosed the figures on state –run Independent Television Network program on Thursday, the first such official statement.
Mr Rajapaksa, an ex-Colonel in the Sri Lankan Army and the brother of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, said “We will not allow terrorism ever again this country. We will restore law and order.”
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara reportedly said over 22,000 member of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed before the troops finally won the war on May 18.
The spokesman also said since the beginning of the civil war in early 1980s, more than 70,000 civilians have been killed while 23,790 government soldiers and police officers died.
Some 269,000 Tamil civilians displaced by the campaign are now housed in welfare camps in the north, according to relief officials, while the government vows to resettle most them to their original villages and towns at the earliest possible time.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-5:45 pm (BST)
