Maj. Gen. Tennekoon made Jaffna SF commander

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 August 2004, 13:38 GMT]
Major General Sunil Tennekoon has been appointed the new Sri Lankan Security Forces Commander for Jaffna, military headquarters in Colombo said Thursday. He was the General Officer Commanding the Sri Lanka army's 22 Division in Trincomalee. Maj. Gen. Tennekoon replaces Maj. Gen. Susil Chandrapala who has been made commander of SLA's Volunteer Force.

Maj. Gen. Tennekoon will assume duties from Fridaday, SLA HQ said.

Born in 1951, he joined the Sri Lanka army as a Non Commissioned Officer on 24 July 1971. The next year in October he got his commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the Artillery. He later commanded the Sixth Artillery. . Maj. Gen. Tennekoon played a key role in several major SLA operations against the Liberation Tigers such as Op. Balavegaya (1991) and Op. Vanni Wickrama (92). . In 1997 he was made the Director of Military Intelligence. He also worked as Army Secretary at the time. Next year he was appointed as SLA spokesman. He was then made GOC of 23 Division, which is in charge of Batticaloa.

He followed the Pakistan National Defence College course before he was made GOC of 22 Div. in Trincomalee.