A Guinean protester holds a sign reading: 'No to Dadis' on September 28, 2009, during a rally banned by Guinea's ruling junta, who cracked down on the demonstrators, reportedly killing scores.

Rights groups have raised the death toll in clashes between Guinea's junta and opposition demonstrators to at least 157 people, with another 1,253 said to have been wounded.

The Guinean Human Rights Organization announced the new figure on Tuesday, a day after troops cracked down on about 50,000 opposition supporters gathering in the capital, Conakry, for a demonstration banned by the ruling junta.

The protesters were opposing a potential candidacy by the leader of last year's coup, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, in the country's 2010 presidential vote.

The opposition Union of Republican Forces had earlier said that 128 corpses were delivered to two Conakry hospitals after Monday's shootings, amid accusations of rape by the troops.

A Red Cross source said military commanders ordered all bodies at the stadium to be taken to the Alpha Yaya Diallo military camp, the junta headquarters, rather than to morgues.

Camara says he has no knowledge of the rapes but rights groups have reported several cases, adding that clashes continued in the capital, with soldiers shooting dead a youth on Tuesday.

Mamadi Kaba, head of the Guinean branch of the African Encounter for the Defense of Human Rights (RADDHO), told AFP that the rapes of women has started from the stadium in Conakry, where the protesters had gathered, and had continued into the army barracks.

The United Nations, African Union and European Union have all expressed concern over the killings.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced "excessive use of force" and said he was "shocked by the loss of life, the high number of people injured and the destruction of property."

Camara seized power in the west African nation following a bloodless coup within hours of the death of Guinea's long-time leader Lansana Conte in December last year. Conte had been in power since 1984.

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