In the four months since the February 1 military takeover cities across Myanmar have been rocked by more than 300 bomb blasts
In the four months since the February 1 military takeover, cities across Myanmar have been rocked by more than 300 bomb blasts, and the ruling junta and its opponents are trading blame over the explosions and the rising death toll, sources in the country say. Bomb blasts can be heard daily in Yangon, the commercial center and former capital, as fighting between the junta’s security forces and those opposed to military rule intensifies across the country of 54 million people. According to Radio Free Asia records, most of the explosive attacks, which include the use of hand grenades and parcel bombs, were targeting areas connected to the military junta, such as police and administrative offices. “At the moment, the explosions are happening mostly at the offices of the ward administration councils appointed by the junta. But there also are explosions in schools and universities, as well as one today at an electric power office,” Zeyar Lwin, a Yangon resident, told RFA’s Myanmar Service on Wednesday. An explosion went off Monday in Kalemyo township’s No.6 High School in the northwestern Sagaing region. A Kalemyo resident who requested anonymity told RFA he thought the police stationed in the school were behind the attack. “Ordinary people can’t get into those places…. It’s not easy. We think they blew up the bomb themselves, so they have an excuse to go around firing guns randomly to intimidate residents,” the resident said.
