'Forty thousand may have died' - UN

BBC Sinhala
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New disclosures about a United Nations (UN) report into the Sri Lankan civil war say it estimates that up to forty-thousand civilians were killed in the final phase of the conflict.

The figures were leaked by the Island newspaper and have since been confirmed by the UN.

"A number of credible sources have estimated that there could have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths. Two years after the end of the war, there is still no reliable figure for civilian deaths, but multiple sources of information indicate that a range of up to 40,000 civilian deaths cannot be ruled out at this stage" says the report compiled by the UN expert pannel.

Indiscriminate shelling

The report accuses the Srilankan government forces of indiscriminate shelling causing civilian deaths and hindering of humanitarian assistance provided by ships of the International Red Cross (ICRC).

The report recommends a proper investigation which can lead to the identification of all of the victims and to the formulation of an accurate figure for the total number of civilian deaths.

The full report is expected to be published soon.

The Sri Lankan government, which was given a copy last week, has already rejected its findings.

© BBC Sinhala