Myanmar's military government accused deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi of taking illegal payments as eight people were killed on Thursday when security forces opened fire on protests against the coup, witnesses and local media said.
Rights group Amnesty International accused the military of adopting battle tactics against demonstrators.
Six people were killed in the central town of Myaing when forces fired on a protest, a man who took part in the demonstration and helped carry bodies to hospital told Reuters by telephone. A health worker there confirmed all six deaths.
"We protested peacefully," the 31-year-old man said. "I couldn't believe they did it."
One person was killed in the North Dagon district of the biggest city of Yangon, domestic media said. Photographs posted on Facebook showed a man lying prone on the street, bleeding from a head wound. One death was reported in Mandalay.
Before Thursday's deaths, an advocacy group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, had said more than 60 protesters were killed and about 2,000 people detained by security forces since the February 01 coup against Suu Kyi's elected government.
Amnesty International accused the army of using lethal force against protesters and said many killings it had documented amounted to extra-judicial executions.
"These are not the actions of overwhelmed, individual officers making poor decisions," said Joanne Mariner, the group's director of crisis response.
