News blackout on Myanmar blasts

Doctors at Yangon General Hospital, the capital's largest, admitted they had been ordered not to speak to journalists about numbers of fatalities, even as the likelihood was remote that all 162 declared wounded had survived Saturday's bombing at two shopping malls and a trade centre.

"A news blackout has been imposed," one doctor at the hospital told AFP.

A senior health official compiling data from the blast added to the secrecy. "We are in no position to say anything at this point," he said when asked if the toll had risen.

Myanmar's junta routinely restricts information on sensitive incidents such as bombings, clashes between authorities and the pro-democracy opposition, and even natural disasters if it feels the data would further harm the isolated government's reputation.