U.N.: Hundreds killed in Sri Lanka weekend fighting

(CNN) -- Hundreds of civilians died during weekend fighting between Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil rebel fighters, the United Nations reported Monday.
A photo supplied by a humanitarian group on Sunday shows civilians allegedly injured in government shelling.

A photo supplied by a humanitarian group on Sunday shows civilians allegedly injured in government shelling.
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"Verification is, of course, the part of the problem, because humanitarian agencies are denied access to the region," U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss said from the capital, Colombo.

"Our understanding is that very heavy fighting took place over the weekend and there were many hundreds of civilian deaths and many, many more beyond that injured."

The numbers provided by the United Nations pale in comparison with rebel claims. More than 3,200 civilians died from Sunday evening till Monday morning, said Lawrence Christy, the head of Tamils Rehabilitation Organization, according to the rebel Web site Tamilnet.com.

The "Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has stepped up relentless barrage of shelling using all sorts of heavy weapons on the so-called safety-zone (no-fire zone)... areas where more than 130,000 civilians have sought refuge," Tamilnet said.

The Sri Lankan government denied the allegations and accused the Tamils of "taking the whole world for a ride with its well-engineered propaganda ploys," while turning their weapons on civilians trying to flee the combat zone.