Nearly 6,432 civilians have been killed and 13,946 wounded in fighting in Sri Lanka over the past three months, according to a UN report.
The release of the document on Friday comes two days after Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said in Brussels he was sending a team of humanitarian experts to the country as part of efforts to "try to do whatever we can to protect the civilian population".
Speaking in New York, Catherine Bragg, the UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the organisation continued to receive reports that "heavy weaponry is being used and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is preventing people form leaving that area and using the civilians as human shields".
The government has said that, since Monday, 104,862 civilians have escaped the conflict between the Sinhalese who are in power and the Tamil minority who say they are being marginalised.
The release of the document on Friday comes two days after Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said in Brussels he was sending a team of humanitarian experts to the country as part of efforts to "try to do whatever we can to protect the civilian population".Speaking in New York, Catherine Bragg, the UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the organisation continued to receive reports that "heavy weaponry is being used and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is preventing people form leaving that area and using the civilians as human shields".
The government has said that, since Monday, 104,862 civilians have escaped the conflict between the Sinhalese who are in power and the Tamil minority who say they are being marginalised.
Civilian casualties have been rising in the conflict zone where the military has been trying to finish off the armed rebellion, according to Doctors Without Borders.People with untreated blast, mine and gunshot wounds are reported to be among more than 100,000 civilians pouring out of the war zone.
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