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More than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final throes of the Sri Lankan civil war, most as a result of government shelling, an investigation by The Times has revealed.

The number of casualties is three times the official figure.

The Sri Lankan authorities have insisted that their forces stopped using heavy weapons on April 27 and observed the no-fire zone where 100,000 Tamil men, women and children were sheltering. They have blamed all civilian casualties on Tamil Tiger rebels concealed among the civilians.

Mr Rajapaksa, brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, told the state-run Independent Television Network the final phase of the operation against the rebels had begun in August 2006.

"Since then the security forces, including the army, navy, the air force, police and the civil defence force, have lost 6,261 personnel killed and 29,551 wounded," Mr Rajapaksa said.

"We made huge sacrifices for this victory."

More than 6,200 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and nearly 30,000 wounded in security forces' final offensive to completely defeat Tamil Tiger separatists, state television reported Friday.

Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, in an interview with state TV, said the final offensive against the Tamil Tigers began in August 2006 with the troops retaking an irrigation canal that was seized by Tigers.