"More than 80,000 people have been killed in Syria’s conflict since it erupted more than two years ago".

More than 80,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict since it erupted more than two years ago, the opposing UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.

Nearly half of those who died were civilians, it added.

The monitoring watchdog said it has documented the killing of around 82,257 people, including 34,473 civilians -- among them 4,788 children and 3,049 women.

It has also recorded the deaths of 16,687 militiamen, including defected military personnel.

The watchdog said 16,729 soldiers and more than 12,000 shabiha (pro-regime militia) and regime informants have also died.

The bodies of another 2,368 people were found across Syria, the Observatory added.

Syria was hit by a violent unrest since mid-March 2011, where the Syrian government accuses foreign actors of orchestrating the conflict, by supporting the militant opposition groups with arms and money.

Some 1.4 million people have fled the country while 4.2 other Syrians have become internally displaced, the UN says.