New York: 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 UN says. 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.
The government has consistently denied allegations that it targeted civilians.
Sri Lanka had asked the UN not to publish the report, saying it could damage reconciliation efforts.
It has rejected the findings as biased and fraudulent.
The report paints a brutal image of the final offensive on the Tamil enclave in northern Sri Lanka between January and May 2009.
It said that hospitals, UN centres and ships belonging to international aid group the Red Cross were deliberately shelled by government forces, media reports.
It describes prisoners being shot in the head and women raped, while the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) used 330,000 civilians as human shields, and shot those who tried to escape.
The UN experts said there were “credible allegations, which if proven, indicate that a wide range of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international rights law was committed both by the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
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