Suu Kyi 'has head injuries'

Fears are growing that the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was hurt in a clash with government forces before her detention on Friday, as diplomats are saying her incarceration feeds doubts about her condition.

Exiled Burmese opposition groups have claimed all week that at least 70 people had been killed in violence which broke out when troops and pro-government thugs attacked Ms Suu Kyi's motorcade as it toured northern Burma.

Independent confirmation remains difficult, with phones cut to sources within Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in Burma, and much of the party leadership in jail or under house arrest.

"Was she hit on the head? Yes, that is true. It is very certain, almost 100% certain that Aung San Suu Kyi and [the NLD vice-chairman] U Tin Oo both suffered head injuries," said Sunai Phasuk, of the Asian Forum for Human Rights in Bangkok.

"The extent of their injuries is not known, nor is her whereabouts. It looks very bad at this moment."

Unidentified sources have told the BBC and Agence France Presse that Ms Suu Kyi had been "hurt by shards of glass on her face and shoulder" when a brick smashed the window of her car. She remains in what the military junta calls "protective custody".

On Tuesday the Burmese deputy foreign minister, Khin Maung Win, said Ms Suu Kyi was in good health and denied she had been hurt. He refused to say where she was being held, or for how long.

One diplomat argued that the reason Ms Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since her detention could be that she is injured. "Barring evidence to the contrary, one cannot stop that speculation," he said.

The UN special envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail, is to go ahead with a visit to Rangoon on Friday, but has been told that a meeting with Ms Suu Kyi cannot be guaranteed.