17 August 2010 10:51 am
Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse said that during the war the LTTE often fought in civilian clothing making it difficult for the military to identify civilians from the LTTE.
He made these remarks while testifying before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee in Colombo today. He also noted that some groups had carried arms in order to survive during the war and supported the military action against the LTTE but now with the war over those groups have been disarmed.
The Defence Secretary noted that among those groups that carried arms were those supporting Karuna, Pillyan, the EPDP and PLOTE.
Rajapaksa also said that the government was compelled to maintain a substantial military presence in the north to curb the possibility of the LTTE re-grouping once again.
The Defence Secretary further warned that the LTTE international network was still intact to a certain extent which was why the military presence remained. (Daily Mirror online)