Sri Lanka said it was "impossible" to avoid deaths in a military campaign against a ruthless opponent.
For the first time Sri Lanka today admitted that civilian deaths did occur during the final phase of the country's three decade-long civil war against Tamil rebels but said it was "impossible" to avoid deaths in a military campaign against a ruthless opponent.
The Lankan government's acceptance that there may have been civilian causalities came in a latest report released here by the country's powerful Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, after dismissing for months a UN report that there had been civilian deaths in the war.
"The government of Sri Lanka made every effort to protect civilians in the conflict zone through the creation of safe corridors and no-fire zones by adhering to a zero civilian casualty policy that had been conveyed to all troops through repeated training and operational orders," said the report titled "Humanitarian Operation: Factual Analysis".
"Despite the clear intent of the government of Sri Lanka and the numerous precautions taken, it was impossible in the battle of this magnitude, against a ruthless opponent actively endangering civilians, for civilian casualties to be avoided," said the report.
The report, however, was mum on how many civilians may have been killed during the civil war that ended with the killing of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran in May 2009.
Releasing the report in response to accusation levelled in the UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon's advisory panel report, Gotabhaya said, "Why should the government, which directly looked after the family of LTTE leaders, kill those who surrendered to the military?"
Releasing the report Gotabhaya said international accusations that as many as 40,000 civilians had been killed during the military operation was "a vague accusation based on even vaguer arithmetic".
He said it was difficult to come to a concrete figure on the actual number of people who lived in the north under the LTTE controlled areas. The figures given by the UN agencies and the government varied between 75,000 and 305,000.
The report said sensing that the military operation was progressing in government's favour, "the LTTE leadership surrounded themselves with a human shield of thousands of civilians in self preservation.
The LTTE deliberately endangered their (civilian) lives by blurring the distinction between combatants and civilians and by using protected civilian sites for military activity".
Dismissing claims of war crimes against the government indicated in the UN report, Gotabhaya said the government had taken care of the surrendered LTTE cadres and their families.
The report is being seen as the government response to the UN panel report which has called for an independent investigation into alleged war crimes.
The government rejecting the UN pan report as one sided has opted to have the allegations examined by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission which was appointed by the government to look back on the conflict.
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