Thousand of Deaths said Burmese Colonel

Thousand of Deaths said Burmese Colonel

Jonas M. Lanter

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.

Reports from other exiles along the frontier confirmed that hundreds of monks had simply ' disappeared' as 20,000 troops swarmed around Rangoon yesterday to prevent further demonstrations by religious groups and civilians.

Khin Ohmar, the head of the Thailand-based Asia-Pacific People's Partnership on Burma, said she had heard from witnesses that "more than 100 were shot down at Tam We high school in Rangoon" but the number of deaths could not be confirmed.
27.September 2007