Bomb blasts rattled three Myanmar cities including the capital on Friday, an official said, the latest in a series of explosions that authorities have mostly blamed on ethnic minority rebels.
The blasts rekindled security concerns at a time when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is preparing to launch her first political tour of the army-dominated country since her release from house arrest in November. The first explosion destroyed a car and shattered windows in the central city of Mandalay shortly before noon on Friday, a government official said.
Residents said two people were injured. It was followed soon afterwards by an explosion at an unoccupied home in the capital Naypyidaw and another blast in the town of Pyin Oo Lwin in central Myanmar, said the official, who did not want to be named. A spokesman for Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi said the recent explosions might affect her plans. “We will have to take the recent bomb blasts into consideration regarding security for Daw Suu’s trip,” said Nyan Win, adding that a schedule for the tour has not yet been set. Security is a top concern for the party as Suu Kyi’s convoy was attacked in 2003 in an ambush apparently organised by a regime frightened by her popularity.
It was unclear what type of explosive devices were used in Friday’s blasts, but the authorities were quick to raise the possibility that ethnic rebels were behind them. “I think insurgents wanted to show their dissatisfaction with the government by planting these bombs,” said a second government official, noting that ethnic minority militias and government troops are fighting in parts of the country.