The United States, responding to protests from Sri Lanka over remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said it had no recent evidence of women being raped while in Sri Lankan government custody.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton said at a UN Security Council meeting that 'rape had been used as a weapon of war in the Balkans, Burma, Sri Lanka and elsewhere and that in too many countries and in too many cases, the perpetrators had not been punished'. She said that, 'this impunity would encourage further attacks'.

The Sri Lanka government officially protested against her statement and the Defence Affairs Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said Sri Lanka totally rejected and condemned Clinton's statement.

In a letter addressed to the Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama the State Department said there had been such charges only in the past.

"In the most recent phase of the conflict, from 2006 to 2009 ... we have not received reports that rape and sexual abuse were used as tools of war, as they clearly have in other conflict area around the world," said Melanne Verveer, ambassador at large for global women's issues at the State Department.

The letter further said, "We hope that this clarification puts the issue in its proper context."

Sri Lanka lodged its protest with the US embassy in Colombo over the remarks made by Clinton last month to the United Nations Security Council.