Amnesty International reported on Sunday that six dissidents were arrested in Yangon over the weekend. It had previously said that four key activists were held in a massive raid on a safehouse early Saturday.

The London-based human rights watchdog said the arrests were part of an ongoing crackdown by the military authorities.

"Continued arrests fly in the face of the promises made this week by the Myanmar authorities to cooperate with the United Nations," the group said.

Seasoned UN trouble shooter Gambari will arrive in Bangkok late Sunday, before heading to Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China and Japan.

He is expected to prepare the ground for a return visit to Myanmar following his mission there last month, which was aimed at defusing a crisis sparked by a deadly army crackdown on protests.

Buddhist monks led up to 100,000 people onto the streets of Yangon in September, but the subsequent government crackdown left at least 13 people dead and saw more than 2,000 arrested.

About 1,000 people remain in custody at unknown locations in Myanmar since last month's rallies.

Concern is growing for their safety after a Thailand-based monitoring group said last week that one activist died after being tortured during interrogation.

Amnesty said the six activists recently held included Htay Kywe and Mi Mi, who led some of the first rallies against the regime in mid-August, and said they were at "grave risk" of torture and ill-treatment.

The UN Security Council on Thursday issued a statement deploring the regime's crackdown. It urged the junta to hold talks with the opposition led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and release political prisoners.

Myanmar's official media has labelled the statement "regrettable," but said it would cooperate with the world body while pressing ahead with its so-called "road map" to democracy.

It made no acknowledgement of the UN call for the release of political prisoners nor for it to hold dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi.

Gambari will likely be keen to harness support to push the regime towards democratic reform, said Debbie Stothard of advocacy group the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, but warned that the junta appeared indifferent.

"Even now as all these diplomatic efforts are taking place, the regime continues to crack down very viciously against activists and monks and even journalists," she told AFP.

"So the toll of detentions and deaths seem to be increasing, at the same time as Gambari is flying around looking for diplomatic support."

Two of the countries on Gambari's agenda -- China and India -- are key allies and trading partners with Myanmar, and are under particular pressure to up their rhetoric against the regime.

Since Gambari's last visit, Than Shwe has made a heavily conditional offer to hold talks with Aung San Suu Kyi, hinged on her ending support for sanctions and dropping "confrontational" policies.

He also appointed deputy labour minister Aung Kyi as a liaison officer tasked with coordinating contacts with the Aung San Suu Kyi, but so far no meeting appears to have taken place.

Myanmar's state press on Sunday made no mention of the envoy's Asia tour, instead publishing accounts of pro-government rallies.

Tens of thousands of people were taken Saturday to a junta-sponsored rally in Yangon in a show of strength by the generals.

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