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Thousands of Sri Lankan soldiers are taking part in a military exercise in the Tamil North-East this week, with delegates from Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and the USA joining in.
The exercise, entitled “Cormorant Strike VII – 2016”, will take place in Kokilai in Mullaitivu, and will have over 3,000 troops participating.
The aim is to “maintain combat readiness at all levels with a view to transmitting and sharing the sea of experiences the Sri Lanka Army, has had gathered in the world's biggest and most successful humanitarian operation before May 2009,” said the Sri Lankan army’s official website.
“The Exercise at its final stages expects to join with Army troops for direct onslaughts against enemy strongholds,” it added.
The commander of the Sri Lankan army, Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva, was reported to have said that troops “should sustain the status quo in relation to national security concerns and be always well-geared to take on any future challenge against the country or her people, as the most prominent defender of the nation”.
The website also boasted that the exercise has “succeeded in attracting more participants from foreign nations”.
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