Colombo, July 17 (Xinhua) The Sri Lankan government Friday said 163 people have died between May 15 and July 14 at the relief camps in the country's north.

The health ministry has rejected the reports by some international media that 1,400 people have died at the relief camps last week, the government information department said in a statement.

'Several media bodies in Britain, including the London Telegraph, had carried false and malicious news items claiming that nearly 200 people housed in welfare centres died daily,' it said.

Those reports were carried out to discredit the Sri Lankan government, the statement said citing Athula Kahandaliyanage, secretary to the ministry.

He added that mortality within the range between 6.