UN did not underestimate Lankan death toll: Ban

United Nations, Jun 1: Ban Ki-moon, UN chief on Monday, Jun 1 denied allegations that UN deliberately underestimated the death toll in the final phase of Sri Lanka's war against Tamil rebels.

"I categorically reject -- repeat categorically -- any suggestion that the United Nations has deliberately underestimated any figures," he said to the UN General Assembly. He was reacting to the media reports that UN was aware of the actual death toll of civilian in Sri Lankan war.

Earlier there were media reports referring to the unconfirmed UN reports, which states that more than 20,000 civilians were killed by Sri Lankan army shelling

Ban said, "In regard to some reports in the media, I should emphasize that the final total is not yet known." He also said, "Most of these figures do not emanate from the UN and most are not consistent with the information at our disposal."

However Ban made it clear and said "whatever the total, the casualties in the conflict were 'Unacceptably High' -- as I have also said repeatedly."

OneIndia News