Sri Lanka Army Commando Regiment The Sri Lanka Army Commando Regiment ( CR ) ( කොමාන්ඩෝ රෙජිමේන්තුව ) is one of the two Special Operations units of the Sri Lanka Army along with the Sri Lanka Army Special Forces Regiment . The organizational and operational Structure of the Sri Lanka Army Commando Regiment is much similar to the British Special Air Service ( SAS ) unit . Within one of the four Army Commando Regiments there is a 140 - man counter - terrorist unit that provides the primary Counter - terrorism response for Sri Lanka . This unit was created in 1980 and is based in Ganemulla , a suburb of Colombo . History . In 1977 Lt . General J . E . D Perera , founder of Commandos , issued a call to combating terrorism in Sri Lanka , a decision was made by the Army HQ to raise a special counter - terrorist unit . Maj . Sunil Peris from 1GW , Capt . Sarath Handapangoda from 1st SR and three other ranks were selected as a " Core Group " and training commenced in the Ella Camp , Army Training Centre , Diyatalawa . On 9 February 1978 the first ever commando training course commenced , Lt U . Edirisinghe and Lt . L . Chandrawansa , and 24 Other Ranks were drawn from the Armoured Corps , Artillery , Engineers , Sri Lanka Light Infantry , Sinha Regiment and the Gemunu Watch on a volunteer basis . Lt Percy Fernando was drawn from Officer Cadet School to assist in training . Lt . Srinath Rajapaksa , Lt . Vijitha Walikala , and four Officers volunteered for the second training course conducted at Diyatalawa . All trainees of both courses , except for aforementioned Officers , returned to their parent units after training . A Commando squadron was formed in Gemunu Watch ‘ B ’ Camp at Diyatalawa and Maj S . D . Peiris GW was appointed officer commanding , and Capt . Sarath Handapangoda was appointed as 2nd In Command . Shortly after that , the Squadron received specialized training in anti - terrorist and anti – hijack techniques conducted by the members of the elite Special Air Service Regiment of Britain . The Commandos were later trained in parachuting at Agra , India and they performed their maiden display during Army Day celebrations on 10 October 1980 . 4 December 1980 , the Squadron moved to its new premises in Ganemulla . In 1981 the Commandos were employed in counter terrorist operations in Jaffna for the first time . It also performs special duties in the Presidential Security Division . To meet the operational requirements the Commando Regiment was expanded and a Commando Brigade was formed on the 18th of March 1997 . 4 Commando regiment was formed before the 3 Commando Regiment in 15 March 2003 which is responsible for VIP protection , hostage rescue and anti terrorist tasks and War dog operations . A third regiment was formed August 1 , 2007 with Maj Uditha Bandara as officer commanding . Organization . The units used 20 man teams which are split into four 4 - 8 man assault units . They have received training from Great Britain , India , Israel and Pakistan . Approximately 40 per cent of the Regiments are airborne qualified . The third Commando Regiment and the third Army Special Forces Regiment are grouped together to form the independent Special Reconnaissance LRRP Brigade . Approximately 95 percent of the two Commando Regiments are airborne qualified , either in Pakistan ( training now discontinued ) , India or at the commando training school in Ganemulla . It may operate in conjunction with the Special Boat Squadron of the Sri Lanka Navy , although this has not been confirmed . The Commando Regiment has only 4 Regular Units . Function . Current CR roles are believed to include : Military operations . Most of the operations conducted by the Commando Regiment are Covert operations . Operation Thoppigala . The 3rd Commando Regiment participated in the military offensive which was launched to capture the " Thoppigala ( Baron ' s cap ) " from LTTE during the period of June / July 2007 . They managed to seize the rocky plateau which had been named by the LTTE as " Tora Bora " . Around 200 LTTE cadres were killed during the entire offensive .