GENEVA (Reuters) - Myanmar’s military rulers may have cremated bodies, including those of monks, to hide the number of those killed in their crackdown on protests earlier this year, a United Nations expert said on Friday.

Thousands of monks march through the Yangon city center as bystanders join in an anti-government demonstration September 24, 2007. Over ten thousand monks marched through the streets of Yangon as tens of thousands of bystanders joined in, cheering them on with claps and prayers. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, U.N. envoy on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, was denied access to the Ye Way crematorium in Yangon during his five-day trip to the country last month.

In a report on that visit to assess the human rights fallout from the suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations in September, Pinheiro cited “very disturbing” accounts that a large number of bodies wrapped in plastic and rice bags were burned at the Ye Way site during the nights of September 27-30.

“At least one report indicates that some of the deceased being cremated had shaved heads and some had signs of serious injuries,” he said.

Myanmar’s Buddhist monks, who led the uprising that captured worldwide attention, traditionally have shaved heads.

In his report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, which meets next week in Geneva, Pinheiro said it was not usual for the crematorium to operate at night, and that regular staff had been told by state security officials to keep away.

Witnesses also reported seeing security forces remove dead bodies during the crackdown, the country’s largest since 1988, and from night raids on some monasteries.

“Without expressing at this stage an opinion on the accuracy of these reports, careful attention should be given to this allegation as it may explain why the government has not been able, so far, to provide information on the whereabouts of a number of detainees and missing persons,” he said.

AMMUNITION, GRENADES, BAMBOO STICKS

While the Myanmar government has said 15 people died in the protests, Pinheiro said that figure “may greatly underestimate the reality.” He said he has requested information about 16 more people who died in the crackdown by army and riot police.

“This included the use of live ammunition, rubber bullets, tear gas and smoke grenades, bamboo and wooden sticks, rubber batons and catapults (slingshots),” the report found.

It said although state forces “showed some diligence in preventing a massacre,” their decision “to shoot and kill and to severely beat protesters causing death constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of life and violates the right to life.”

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has suffered economic decay since its 1962 military coup despite possessing rich resources in gas, timber and mining.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 people were arrested in September and October in connection with the demonstrations, sparked after the government hiked fuel prices 500 percent. Pinheiro estimated that between 500 and 1,000 people were still detained as of last month, in addition to the 1,150 political prisoners held prior to the demonstrations.

Pinheiro called on Myanmar authorities in his report to reveal the whereabouts of those still detained or missing, to return the remains of the dead to their families, and to give the Red Cross immediate access to all prisoners in the country, some of whom are held in difficult and degrading conditions.

He also urged the government to invite an international commission of inquiry to fully investigate reports of killings, beatings, torture and disappearances, and to assess the campaign of reprisals against monks, nuns, political activists, rights defenders and other protesters, as well as their family members.