Sri Lanka-India joint military exercise ‘Mitra Shakthi VIII’…

The final mock demonstration of the largest-ever joint exercise ‘Mitra Shakthi VIII’ that ushers in revitalized bonds of friendly goodwill and strong cooperation between the Sri Lanka Army and the Indian Army got underway on Friday (October 15) in the presence of General Manoj Mukund Naravane, Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army as the Chief Guest and his host, General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of Sri Lanka Army at Maduru Oya Special Forces Training School (SFTS) grounds.

An all arms contingent of 120 Jawans of the Indian Army, headed by Colonel Prakash Kumar, Commanding Officer and an equal number of Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment of the Sri Lankan Army, commanded by Major Mahesh Pathiraja were participating in the 8th edition of the Exercise ‘Mitra Shakti’ after the Exercise kicked off on October 03.

Major General Nishantha Manage, General Officer Commanding, 53 Division has been functioning as the Exercise Director with the Deputy Director of the Exercise, Brigadier B. N Godellwatta on the guidelines given by the Commander of the Army.

The India-Sri Lanka bilateral joint Exercise, designed to enhance understanding of transnational terrorism, inter-operability skills, conduct of joint tactical operations, sharing of each other’s best practices and experiences, etc during their stay at the Combat Training School in Ampara rehearsed several tactical and strategic operations before today’s final simulated attack on the Fight-in-Built up Areas (FIBUA) of the enemy hideout was launched.