Sri Lanka ‘killed civilians’ – UN

The UN has said widespread shelling by the Sri Lankan government killed most of the tens of thousands of civilians who died in the final months of the 25-year-long war, in 2009.

The report also accuses Tamil Tigers separatists of using civilians as human shields.

The UN is calling for an independent investigation into what it says could constitute war crimes.

Sri Lanka had asked the UN not to publish its findings.

It said the report could damage reconciliation efforts.

The government has consistently denied allegations that it targeted civilians, and has rejected the report’s findings as biased and fraudulent.

The panel also criticises the UN itself for failing to take actions that might have protected civilians.

The BBC’s Barbara Plett, in New York, says that a divided Security Council was initially reluctant to address Sri Lanka’s war and much less call for an inquiry.

However, the secretary general appointed the panel after mounting evidence of serious human rights abuses and massive civilian casualties in the five-month offensive which ended the war.

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