More than 6,200 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and nearly 30,000 wounded in security forces' final offensive to completely defeat Tamil Tiger separatists, state television reported on Friday.
Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, in an interview with state TV, said the final offensive against the Tamil Tigers began in August 2006 with the troops retaking an irrigation canal that was seized by Tigers.
"Since then the security forces, including the army, navy, the airforce, police and the civil defence force, have lost 6,261 personnel killed and 29,551 wounded," Rajapakse said. "We made huge sacrifices for this victory."
Rajapakse said a total of 23,790 military men and women had been killed since 1981.
Lankan prez dismisses charges of war crimes President Mahinda Rajapakse has brushed off calls for an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by government troops in their offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels.
“There are some who tried to stop our military campaign by threatening to haul us before war crimes tribunals," he said in a speech to hundreds of supporters outside the national parliament.