U.N. rights boss calls for sanctions on some Sri Lankan ex-military

© Reuters/DENIS BALIBOUSEFILE PHOTO: U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Bachelet attends a news conference in Geneva

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on states on Wednesday to impose "targeted sanctions" on former Sri Lankan military commanders implicated in alleged war crimes during the final years of a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009.

"States can consider targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans against credibly alleged perpetrators of grave human rights violations and abuses," she said in a report on Sri Lanka to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Bachelet voiced concern that since 2020, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had appointed at least 28 serving or retired military and intelligence personnel to key civilian posts, including some "implicated in United Nations reports in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final years of the conflict".

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Kevin Liffey)