Who is general sarath fonseka

A keen sportsman, Fonseka excelled in a number of sports and enlisted in the army in He is married with two daughters, both of whom live in the US. More from News. El Salvador orders army into the streets after spike in killings.

Water scarcity reaches crisis point in northern Syria. UN climate negotiations enter final day as differences remain. Sri Lanka limits size of public events ahead of opposition rally. Most Read. US journalist Danny Fenster jailed for 11 years in Myanmar. Both men deny the allegations. Soon after his release from two years in prison - he was mobbed by his adoring supporters as he left jail - Mr Fonseka argued strongly that Sri Lanka must co-operate with any international investigation into alleged war crimes.

He said some Sri Lankan leaders were "hiding their faces" over the conduct of the war, as if they were guilty. He denied allegations that thousands of civilians had been killed. Sarath Fonseka once told the BBC the "crowning achievement" of his military career was wiping out the rebels. He was nearly assassinated by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber in He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in June and rose through the ranks while completing training stints across South Asia and in the US and UK.

Over the years he acquired a reputation as a tough battlefield commander and was often in the thick of the action in fighting against the Tamil Tigers. He was wounded in action in In the same year, as a colonel, he led a daring operation to relieve troops who at the time were under siege in Jaffna fort in the north of the country.

The two men who worked so closely together later became bitter political adversaries. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is one of President Rajapaksa's brothers. In Gen Fonseka won widespread plaudits for his role in Operation Riviresa - the army's operation to capture Jaffna town from the Tamil Tigers. One of the low points in his career was in when the strategically important Elephant Pass - one of the few land routes to the Jaffna peninsula - was overrun by hundreds of Tamil Tiger rebels in a surprise attack.

Troops commanded by Sarath Fonseka offered stiff resistance but ultimately had to withdraw. It was a setback that the general was determined to avenge - Elephant Pass was recaptured by his troops in January He was sentenced to 30 months in jail and released in May Fonseka headed a new opposition party while in jail and won a parliamentary seat in April elections but was stripped of the post after his sentencing.

Fonseka has rejected local and international allegations that he was responsible for war crimes during the final phase of the war against the Tamil Tigers and has said he is willing to testify in any international court. Emerging Markets Updated.