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General Sarath Fonseka, the defeated candidate in Sri Lanka's presidential election, has been arrested for "military offences", defence officials have said.

General Prasad Samarasinghe, a military spokesman, said the arrest related to offences from Fonseka's time in the army, which ended in November when he quit and entered the presidential race. 

"General Fonseka has been arrested on charges of committing military offences," Samarasinghe said in an official statement on Monday.

The former army chief "was dragged away in a very disgraceful manner in front of our own eyes", Rauff Hakeem, Sri Lanka's Muslim Congress leader, told the Reuters news agency.

'Coup plot'

Many credit Fonseka with winning the war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May.

However, he fell out with Rajapaksa soon after and the pair fought a bitter election campaign.

Fonseka was defeated by Rajapaksa last month by six million votes to four million.

He rejected the results and vowed to challenge them in court.

Fonseka has been accusing the government of trying to frame him. Several senior military officials, close to him, have also been purged since his defeat in the election.

The government has been seeking legal advice to bring a court martial against the general on charges of plotting to overthrow the administration.

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