The UN yesterday decried surging deaths in Myanmar since the February 1 coup, warning that detained protesters were facing torture and hundreds had disappeared.

"The death toll has soared over the past week in Myanmar, where security forces have been using lethal force increasingly aggressively against peaceful protesters," UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.

In total, she said, the office had corroborated that a total of 149 people had died in the crackdown on protests since February 1, but stressed that the actual number was surely much higher. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), more than 180 people have been killed, including 74 on Sunday alone.

In addition to the killings, Shamdasani warned that security forces were continuing to arbitrarily arrest and detain people throughout the country, with at least 2,084 people currently being held, reports AFP.

"Deeply distressing reports of torture in custody have also emerged," she said.

The office had determined that "at least five deaths in custody have occurred in recent weeks," she said, adding that "at least two victims' bodies have shown signs of severe physical abuse indicating that they were tortured."

In addition, "hundreds of people who have been unlawfully detained remain unaccounted for and have not been acknowledged by the military authorities."

This, Shamdasani said, "amounts to enforced disappearances."

Her comment came after security forces escalated the use of lethal force against anti-coup protesters, despite appeals for restraint.

Meanwhile, families of dozens of people killed in demonstrations against military rule attended their funerals yesterday as more protesters defied the security forces and at least one man was shot dead.

A crematorium in Yangon reported 31 funerals, a mourner at one of the ceremonies said.

Some families told media the security forces had seized the bodies of victims, but they would still hold a funeral.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was appalled by the escalating violence and called on the international community to help end the repression, his spokesman said, while the United States also denounced the bloodshed.

"The military is attempting to overturn the results of a democratic election and is brutally repressing peaceful protesters," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference in Tokyo yesterday.