Three Bomb Explosions Hit Burma

24 June 2011: A series of bomb explosions hit Burma in three locations including the new capital, Naypyidaw; the second biggest city, Mandalay; and Pyin Oo Lwin, home to the Defence Services Academy (DSA) and the Defence Services Institute of Technology (DSIT) today.

The first bomb blast took place around noon near a busy shopping centre in downtown Mandalay, with at least two people injured. Another explosion happened a few minutes later in Tapyay Gone area of Naypyidaw but no casualties have been reported.

In Mandalay, the bomb exploded from a car parked in the ground floor of the Zay Cho Hotel, destroying the vehicle and breaking some windows of the shopping centre nearby while the blast at Naypyidaw occurred near the Gems Museum run by the Burmese government.

Later today, there was another explosion reported in the hilly town located in the Shan Highland, Pyin Oo Lwin, with a large military presence.

Some locals from Rangoon told Chinland Guardian: “There have been talks about the bomb blasts. Some people think that this is the same old story about the acts of Burma’s authorities in order to tighten security and to create reasons to blame the ethnic forces.”

But details of the situation have not been known as to how and why the explosions occurred.

Since recent months, the Burma Army soldiers have launched military attacks on Kachin, Shan and Karen armed forces in the northern and eastern parts of Burma, killing dozens of ethnic civilians, forcing thousands as refugees into the borders, and raping scores of ethnic women as well as using locals as porters and shields in the battles.

Van Biak Thang
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