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Myanmar calls for vigilance after three bomb blasts
Mon, Jan 14, 2008 The Straits Times
YANGON - THE Myanmar government called for public vigilance after a third bomb blast in three days. One woman was injured at an explosion at a railway station in Myanmar's commercial capital yesterday, a government official said. The attack came after two ethnic Karens died in separate bombings elsewhere in the military-ruled country on Friday. The official, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorised to release information, said the blast occurred at a ticket office at the Yangon railway station at 2pm. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Dozens of armed policemen were deployed at the station and security officials sealed off the road outside.

'There were many passengers queuing for tickets but fortunately, the explosion happened outside the building,' a 45-year-old passenger who was not injured in the blast said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility. The military government did not comment on the latest blast.

A bomb exploded on Friday evening during a circus show in the northern rural township of Pyu, injuring four civilians and killing an ethnic Karen man, believed to be a separatist rebel, who allegedly planted the explosive, state media reported yesterday.

The New Light of Myanmar said the 25-year-old member of the Karen National Union (KNU) was killed when the bomb went off prematurely as he planted it in a field where the performance was taking place.

The blast wounded four people, including a four-year-old boy, the paper said.

Another suspect, who was arrested as he tried to flee the scene, said the victim was a member of the KNU, the paper said. Pyu is about 190km north of Yangon.

The KNU has been fighting for half a century for greater autonomy from Myanmar's military government. It is the only major ethnic rebel group not to have agreed to a ceasefire with the junta.

Also on Friday, another bomb exploded at a railway station in the new administrative capital of Naypyitaw, killing a 40-year-old ethnic Karen woman, the newspaper reported.

Investigators said that device also exploded prematurely as the woman was planting it, the report said. Traces of gunpowder were found in her luggage, the report added.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the bombings.

KNU spokesman David Thaw was not available for comment yesterday.

The authorities had recently warned the public to be vigilant against terrorists and to cooperate with officials by informing them of suspicious activities and turning in the suspects.

Terrorism is rare but not unknown in Myanmar, which has been under military rule almost continuously since 1962.

The government often blames political opponents and ethnic rebels for bombings, though no firm evidence has been produced.

However, government opponents deny carrying out attacks on civilians.

ASSOCIATED PRESS