Twenty thousand civilians were killed in Sri Lanka's final push against Tamil Tiger rebels, claims a UN confidential report.
The death toll, which dwarfs official estimates, is based on evidence ranging from aerial photographs to eye witness accounts.
Aid workers who were recently in the no-fire zone have told Channel 4 programme they believe the figure is "very credible".
According to UN reports after the last mass exodus of civilians in April, there were 100,000 civilians inside safe zone. This they maintained in early May too. UN again reported that 88,000 came out as the war came close to end. So where is the balance 12,000?
Put all in all, till end April, 7000+ were killed, that adds to the missing 12,000+ it makes the estimates easily to 20,000.
But according to Tamil sources the number of civilians inside the safe zone in early may was much higher than UN estimate, it estimated the count to a moderate figure of 120,000+. Tamil Rehabilitation Organization that was distributing gruel at the peek of food scarcity inside safe zone put the numbers at close to 165,000. What bothers Tamil National Commentator is why the UN is reluctant to varify the numbers from civil officers, who till the last week of the combat were distributing food and maintaining ration cards.
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Video Courtesy: Channel 4
