SL Army says in “advantageous position” to quell extremist groups

The Sri Lanka Army yesterday expressed confidence that security forces are in an “advantageous position” to defeat any possible extremist threat, noting they know the numbers and the roots.

“As at today, we are at an advantageous position in defeating them. We are confident to say that we know them, we know the numbers, and we know the roots. We have enough numbers to deal with any situation which may arise,” Army Headquarters Director Media and Military Spokesman Brigadier Sumith Atapattu told journalists yesterday.

He made these remarks at a special press conference organised by Sri Lanka Tourism to brief local and international media about the latest situation, and measures taken to revive and rebuild the tourism industry.

Brigadier Atapattu assured that all schools, religious places, and tourist hotels have been provided with security, while stressing on the fact that they have adequate capacity to further strengthen security if they request. “We have deployed just over 15,000 troops on ground, only for the immediate assistance to the public. Some activities of the security forces can be seen and some are not. If needed, we can deploy more,” he added.

Following the deadly attacks on Easter Sunday, he said that security forces took all steps to stop possible escalation of violence, by providing an adequate number of troops on the ground, which helped prevent the situation developing into an ethnic conflict. 

Forces also simultaneously started search and clear operations all over the country, which was a great success.

As a result of the search operations, Brigadier Atapattu said they were able to apprehend 70% to 80% of the terrorist cadres, where many of them committed suicide before troops reached their objective, such as in Saindamaradu in Kalmunai in the Eastern province.

He also said that large hauls of weapons and ammunition items were recovered during the search operations carried throughout the country. “After evaluating the security situation in each district, necessary steps have been taken to prevent such incidents happening, and we have beefed up security accordingly. We know them, we know the numbers, and we know the roots.”

We know them, we know the numbers and we know the roots -

Army Headquarters Director Media and Military Spokesman Brigadier Sumith Atapattu

Admitting that there had been some security lapses in the past, he said that they now have short-term, medium-term and long-term plans to tackle any situation. “We have not underestimated or taken this as a simple situation. But this is not a deep-rooted and complex situation, according to our reading,” he pointed out. (CdeS)