Sri Lanka, under global pressure over its human rights record, today launched a six-month census to count the number of casualties during the final phase of the brutal civil war against the LTTE in 2009.

Some 16,000 officials would gather information from 14,000 villages nationwide from today until December 20. "The government has nothing to hide.

A lot of people have come out with various accusations with their own figures. We will come out with real facts," P B Abeykoon, secretary to the ministry of public administration said.

Sri Lanka, since the end of the ethnic conflict four years ago, has faced accusations of ignoring international calls for accountability over alleged 40,000 civilian deaths.

Officials would be conducting a census on deaths and injuries and property damages during the island's 30-year civil war in which an estimated 100,000 people died.