Sri Lanka’s president announced that five senior Brigadiers of the Army have been promoted to the rank of Major General, as part of a series of promotions issued last month.
The five senior Brigadiers are reported to have been active during the Sri Lankan military offensive which culminated in May 2009 and saw tens of thousands of Tamils massacred.
An official military website reports that the five “while serving either as Support, Infantry or Service arms or in combat have played praiseworthy roles during Humanitarian Operations and rendered a yeoman service to the country in the fight against terrorism and separatism”.
Meanwhile 34 Captains were also promoted to the rank of temporary Major.
The move by Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena comes as he reiterated his defence of the Sri Lankan military and boasted of how he has stopped them from being tried for war crimes.
