THE Burmese army has burnt an undetermined number of bodies at a crematorium sealed off by armed guards northeast of Rangoon over the past seven days, ensuring that the exact death toll in the recent pro-democracy protests will never be known.
Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.
The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand."
Mr Win, who spoke out as a Swedish diplomat predicted that the revolt has failed, said he fled when he was ordered to take part in a massacre of holy men. He has now reached the border with Thailand.
As Burma's military government attempts to suppress the largest pro-democracy protests by Buddhist monks and civilians in decades, there are numerous reports on Friday that it has also cut off its citizens' Internet access and cell phone lines.
Burma--officially the Union of Myanmar--is already labeled by watchdog groups as one of the most restrictive locales in the world when it comes to blocking Internet content. But like in China and other censorship-happy countries, dissidents have come up with technological work-arounds such as proxies that connect them directly to computers outside the prohibitive country.
Now there are widespread reports that public Internet cafes have been shut down, most of the country's cell phone lines have been disconnected, and the remaining Internet access has made uploading photos and video of scenes on the ground a snail-like process. Some groups are exploring buying expensive but less easily restricted satellite phones to continue their dispatches, according to a Friday report in The Wall Street Journal.
Some news agencies have reported being told that the Internet connection has been brought down by a damaged undersea cable, but diplomats and citizens said they suspect the government is involved. The shutdown apparently did nothing to keep at least 10,000 protesters from assembling Friday.
Nine people have been killed during Thursday's crackdown on anti-government protesters in Burma's main city of Rangoon, state media say.
The dead included eight protesters and a Japanese man, identified as a video journalist working for APF News - with 11 demonstrators and 31 soldiers hurt.
At least three monks were killed in clashes with Burma's security forces who cracked down on anti-government protests in Rangoon, two officials told AFP.
"According to the information that we received, at least three monks were killed,'' one Burmese official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
One monk was killed when a gun went off as he tried to wrestle the weapon away from a soldier, while two others were beaten to death, the official said.
His account was confirmed by a second official, who said the toll was based on official reports of incidents that took place around the Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma's holiest site and a key rallying point for the monks.
There are also reports that over 100 people have been injured.
MORE than 100,000 Buddhist monks and supporters marched in Rangoon yesterday, piling the pressure on Burma's ruling military junta and adding to fears the "Saffron Revolution" would end in a bloody crackdown.
Myanmar's military leaders imposed a nighttime curfew and banned gatherings of more than five people Tuesday after 35,000 Buddhist monks and their supporters defied the junta's warnings and staged another day of anti-government protests.
The country's hard-line military rulers have not used force so far to stop the biggest anti-government demonstrations in nearly two decades, led by the monks. But soldiers in full battle gear were deployed Tuesday in the country's largest city, setting the stage for a showdown with a determined pro-democracy protest movement.
