Thousands Massacred in Burma

This horrible situation has just gotten infinitely worse.

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.

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Reports from 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.

Word reaching dissidents hiding out on the border suggested that as well as executions, some 2,000 monks are being held in the notorious Insein Prison or in university rooms which have been turned into cells.

There were reports that many were savagely beaten at a sports ground on the outskirts of Rangoon, where they were heard crying for help.

Others who had failed to escape disguised as civilians were locked in their bloodstained temples.

There, troops abandoned religious beliefs, propped their rifles against statues of Buddha and began cooking meals on stoves set up in shrines.

And now the whereabouts of U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari are unknown. MSNBC is reporting the question of where is Gambari, but does not mention the massacre of thousands. CNN is not reporting this story either. BBC is reporting "thousands of monks 'to be sent away'" but no mention of a massacre.

Update: Well now the MSNBC link has been changed to "Envoy set to meet Myanmar's junta leader." So I guess he's accounted for. That's a relief.