While the Burmese regime still touts an official count of 10 dead in five days of repression, the UK's Daily Mail reports Oct. 2 claims of a "a former intelligence officer in Burma's ruling junta that thousands of protesters have been killed and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle." The official, whose rank or title are not given, is named as Hla Win, and is said to have defected when he was ordered to take part in a massacre of holy men. He told the Daily Mail: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand." A more cautious report in The Scotsman cites the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) saying the death toll stands at a minimum of 138. DVB's Aye Chan Naing also said 6,000 people have been detained, including about 2,400 monks.

Amnesty International issued an urgent appeal to the UN Security Council Oct. 1 to impose a comprehensive and mandatory arms embargo on Burma. The statement also calls on Burma's principal arms suppliers—in particular China and India, but also Russia, Serbia, Ukraine and ASEAN nations—to suspend all deals with the junta.

Some 3,000 marched in London Sept. 30, the biggest demonstration for Burma in Britain so far, reports the Burma Campaign UK.

See our last post on Burma.