COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 12 (UPI) -- A United Nations official should be disciplined for accusing Sri Lanka of causing a civilian "bloodbath" in its war with militants, Sri Lankan diplomats said.
Sri Lanka has lodged formal a protest against U.N. spokesman Gray Weiss, who Monday told CNN that hundreds of civilians died last weekend in military crossfire with militant Tamil Tigers.
"The (United Nations) has been warning for weeks that this precise situation would result in a bloodbath and, indeed, that seemed to have come to pass," Weiss said.
Weiss estimated between 50,000 to 100,000 civilians were trapped between the Sri Lankan army and the militants.
Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's foreign secretary, said Weiss was being misled by militant propaganda reports.
Because Sri Lanka has denied humanitarian agencies and journalists access to the region, the number of dead and wounded cannot be independently verified, CNN reported.
