Colombo, Aug 19 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka’s military top brass have visited the island’s northern town of Jaffna to assess first-hand the security situation prevailing there, officials said Sunday.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Chief Defence Staff Donald Perera and Army Commander Sarath Fonseka visited the cultural capital of Tamil community Saturday.
Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the brother of Sri Lanka President Mahindra Rajapakse, is an ex-army officer and currently spearheads the government’s military offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Defence sources said that the trio discussed the threats on the troops in Raffia after the military had gained full control in the east.
There are some 40,000 troops stationed in Jaffna.
Jaffna fell to government control in Dec 1995 after the entire peninsula was under the rebel control for over five years.
The government’s next military thrust is to be directed towards the north where the LTTE controls a larger area and all their bases and headquarters remain.
The present cycle of violence began in Jaffna in Dec 2005 with a spate of roadside bombs against government troops.
The LTTE has been fighting the government since the mid-1980s to establish a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north and east claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhala majority.
Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the island’s separatist armed conflict during the last two decades.