Diplomats and Burmese dissidents fear that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in custody for five days, could have been injured in a clashbetween her supporters and a pro-government group last week.
The Nobel peace laureate and pro-democracy icon has been held at undisclosed locations since her detention after the violence on Friday, despite United Nations efforts to gain access to her ahead of a trip by an envoy of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and mounting international calls for her release.
"Suu may be in good health, or she may have been hurt, we just don't know," said one diplomat on condition of anonymity.
The government has denied reports Suu Kyi was hurt but said four people were killed and 50 hurt in the clash, and Suu Kyi had been taken into "protective custody".
Despite the government denial, the diplomat said rumours were swirling in the capital Yangon.
"One is she is getting treatment at the Mingaladon Military Hospital on the outskirts of town. The other is that she is in a special military guesthouse on Inya Road", he said, referring to an elite residential area in the capital near her home.
An Asian diplomat close to U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail- due to arrive in Burma on Friday for a five-day visit - said the veteran Malaysian diplomat was seeking junta permission to visit the detained pro-democracy icon.
"Razali is not sure if he will be allowed to see her or not," said the diplomat. "We don't know for sure Aung San Suu Kyi's condition or where she is."
"He will make his final decision on his visit at the very last moment as he feels the situation is not clear."
Annan said it was vital Razali visit Myanmar and meet SuuKyi.
The junta launched a sweeping crackdown on dissentfollowing last week's violence in the north of the country where Suu Kyi was visiting supporters.
Exiled dissidents say they believe Suu Kyi sustained headand shoulder injuries after her convoy was stopped on a roadand set upon by several truck-loads of government supporterswielding clubs.
They also say many more people were killed than the fourthe government has reported - perhaps as many as 75.
The government has not given details of the disturbance,but simply blamed Suu Kyi for causing a "commotion".
The government also detained took Suu Kyi's top aides, closed her party offices across the country and closed universities, which have long been hotbeds of unrest.
Foreign diplomats in Yangon said they had been denied anycontact with Suu Kyi and other top members of her NationalLeague for Democracy (NLD) who are being held under housearrest.
The crackdown has effectively put an end to stalled talkson the country's political future between the junta andopposition, who are pushing for a transition to democracy,brokered by Razali in 2000.
Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Muang Win said yesterday Razali was welcome to go ahead with his visit, planned some weeks ago, but hinted he may not be allowed to meet Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi's NLD won a 1990 election by a landslide, but has never been allowed to govern.
Suu Kyi has spent much of the last 14 years under housearrest. But the military has been alarmed by the large crowdsshe has drawn during a series of visits to supporters aroundthe country, since she ended her last stint in detention a yearago.