A total of 4,685 former LTTE combatants have been rehabilitated and reintegrated into the Sri Lankan society since the defeat of the Tigers in May last year,a senior military official said. "We have handed over 4,685 ex-combatants to their parents after rehabilitation. Six thousand more are to be rehabilitated," Commissioner General of rehabilitation Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe said. The latest batch of 498,more than a half of them women,were released in the northern town of Vavuniya on Friday. The released former rebels have gone through vocational and English language training. The private sector firms have shown interest to recruit them - mostly in the apparel export sector,the official website said. Sri Lankan security forces defeated the rebels and in May 2009 and officially announced the victory of the securityforces over the LTTE after the death of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran. Since then Government detained thousands of ex-combatants inclusive of child soldiers and took measures to rehabilitate them. Several hundreds of child soldiers were given the opportunity to complete their secondary education,the official website said. In August,around 500 such students sat for the GCE advanced level examination and later were handed over to their parents.
