An activist group says the number of people who have died in the Syrian conflict so far has exceeded 160,000.

According to the Associated Press, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday, May 19, that it has documented 162,402 deaths since the fighting started in March 2011.

The Observatory says the figure includes civilians, rebels and members of the Syrian military. It also includes militiamen fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's forces, as well as foreign fighters battling with the rebels for Assad's ouster.

The Observatory bases its tally on information it gets from a network of activists on the ground in Syria.

The UN has stopped updating its tally of the Syrian dead, saying it can no longer verify the sources of information. The UN's last count in late July was 100,000 dead.