Sri Lanka wartime commanders honoured with highest military ranks

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday bestowed the highest military ranks to two former commanders of the Navy and the Air Force for their contributions in ending the brutal LTTE's 30-year separatist campaign. While former Navy Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet, former Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetilleke was promoted to Marshal of the Air Force, according to a gazette order.

Sirisena awarded the honourary ranks being the Commander-in-Chief of all three forces, the order added. Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Air Force are the foremost honorary ranks in the respective forces.

Former Admiral Karannagoda served as the Commander of the Navy from 2005 to 2009. Former Air Chief Marshal Goonetilleke served as the Commander of the Air Force from 2006 to 2011. Their awards come four years after the then Army Commander Sarath Fonseka was made Field Marshal by Sirisena.

Fonseka, Karannagoda and Goonetilleke led the government troops in the decisive battle against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The LTTE was a Tamil militant and political organisation that aimed to carve out a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north and eastern provinces of the country.

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