 This included more than 23,327 Sri Lankan soldiers and policemen, 1,155 Indian soldiers and 27,639 Tamil fighters.The numbers were confirmed by Secretary of Defence Ministry Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in an interview with state television on 22 May 2009.23,790 Sri Lankan military personnel were killed since 1981 (it was not specified if police or other non-armed forces personnel were included in this particular figure).