Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force (STF) has the provision to expand to up to 10,000 troops stated the STF Commandant earlier this week, as training continued to take place with more troops being recruited.
Speaking to theIsland, STF Commandant DIG R. W. M. C. Ranawaka stated that 300 were undergoing training at the moment, with provision for recruitment for a further 600 troops next year.
There are currently 7,800 STF officers, with Ranawaka adding that the government had the provision to expand to 10,000. When asked about increased deployment in the Northern province, Ranawaka went on to state that troops would be sent to all districts across the island, adding that in the absence of an armed conflict, training would take a year to complete.
The last batch of STF recruits passed out in August earlier this year. See Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at their ceremony here.
The unit is most notably infamous for the extra-judicial killings of the ‘Trinco 5’ and of 17 ACF aid workers.
See a feature on the STF, its origins and ethos, written in 2001, below.
An elite believing in terror as their creed (25 July 2001)