The Ex-Army Chief Sarath Fonseka, who was released from jail on Monday rejected allegations made by certain quarters that thousands of civilians had been killed in the closing phase of the army’s offensive, a media report said.

Fonseka in an interview given to BBC has said, “The large figures of 30,000, 40,000, [who are said to have] died – it was not practicable. The way we conducted the war, the type of weapons systems we used, the manuals we made, we were always concerned about the security of the civilians”.

The Ex-General has said that he believed civilians were given weapons and put on the front line by rebels and as a result the army would not have been able to tell them apart.

However, Fonseka says Sri Lanka must co-operate with any international investigation into the alleged war crimes.

Fonseka has told the BBC that he is ready to answer for any allegations about the war crimes in relation to the military operations as he was in charge of the military during the final war launched to wipe out the LTTE.

“I’ve said from the very beginning, to safeguard the name of the military, those who sacrificed their lives, those who conducted that operation – I’ll come out at any time, I’m not scared to come before anybody,” Fonseka has told the BBC.

Courtesy: BBC

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