At least five dead in Myanmar crackdown

A crowd gathers in Yangon September 27, 2007. At least five people, including a Japanese photographer, were killed in Myanmar's main city on Thursday when soldiers and police fired on crowds protesting against decades of military rule and economic hardship.

YANGON (Reuters) - At least five people, including a Japanese photographer, were killed in Myanmar's main city on Thursday when soldiers and police fired on crowds protesting against decades of military rule and economic hardship.

Witnesses said scores of protesters had been wounded or beaten in at least three or four incidents around Yangon after soldiers told residents they had 10 minutes to clear the city centre streets or risk getting shot.

Following are reports of casualties:

- Japanese photographer shot dead as soldiers fired to disperse crowds on Sule Pagoda road, witnesses said.

- One Buddhist monk was killed in a raid on the Shwesettaw monastery, a source said. The raid was one of nine at monasteries seen by the junta as hotbeds of political opposition.

In some cases, all but one or two monks were carted off in military trucks.

- Soldiers from the 77nd Light Infantry Division opened fire into crowds on the Eastern Race Course Road after a military truck drove into protesters, onlookers said. Three people were killed on the spot.

Their bodies were dragged to the side and left in a roadside ditch. In the same incident, at least 30 people were beaten. Many of the victims were taken to the Shinpagu Private Clinic by onlookers.

- A British diplomat said there was evidence of "severe beating" of monks at the Ngwe Cha Yan monastery on the southeastern edge of Yangon. It is not known how many monks were injured.

- At least four other people "had been shot quite seriously" on Tarami Street, the British diplomat said.

- At least three or four people were wounded when the soldiers dispersed a big crowd under the Pansodan Overpass. Among them was a 19-year-old woman, witnesses said.

- Hundreds of people swarmed around four armoured vehicles outside the gates of the South Okkalapa monastery, the Asian Human Rights Commission said.

Soldiers fired warning shots into the air, and then shouted that they would fire into the crowds if they did not disperse. It is not known what happened next.