Colombo, July 12 (IANS) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has effected a major reshuffle in the country’s military command appointing new army and navy commanders just two months after the military won a decades-long battle against Tamil rebels.
Army Chief Sarath Fonseka has been appointed the chief of defence staff, while Major General Jagath Jayasuriya as the new army commander, the Daily Mirror reported Sunday.

Rear Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe has been appointed the new navy chief replacing Wasantha Karanagoda, who was named an advisor to the president, the report said.

The new appointments will take effect from July 15.

Fonseka and Karanagoda have been credited for defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a three-year-long military campaign starting July 2006.

On May 19, Rajapaksa announced that the LTTE has been totally defeated with the government troops killing almost all the top LTTE leaders and recapturing all the 15,000-sq km territory controlled by them.

More than 20,000 people were reportedly killed in the final days of the military offensive in the country. About 300,000 people have also been displaced and are taking shelter in several welfare villages.