Sri Lanka and China commenced a three week long joint military training exercise on Monday, reports Colombo Page.
The exercise was inaugurated by the chief guest Major General Jagath Dias, who was recently promoted to Head of Armed forces by the new Sirisena government.
A few areas that the training is set to focus on include: weapons handling, sniper firing, ambush drills, jungle warfare and vehicle ambush drills.
The promotion of the accused war criminal Major General Jagath Dias to Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka’s army has been labelled as a major setback for peacebuilding by several NGO’s.
Maj Gen Dias promotion 'major setback' for peace-building in Sri Lanka - NGOs (20 May 2015)
Sri Lanka's promotion of accused war criminal is a 'slap in the face of victims' - HRW (17 May 2015)