Parcel bomb blasts kill five in Myanmar
YANGON: Blasts from at least one parcel bomb in Myanmar have killed five people, including an ousted lawmaker and three police officers who had joined a civil disobedience movement opposing military rule, media reported on Tuesday.
The latest blasts were in a village in the southern central part of Myanmar in Western Bago and occurred at around 5pm on Monday, the Myanmar Now news portal reported, citing a resident.
Three blasts were triggered when at least one parcel bomb exploded at a house in the village, killing a regional lawmaker from Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy (NLD) party, as well as the three police officers and a resident, the report said.
Another police officer involved in the civil disobedience movement was also severely wounded ater his arms were blown off by the explosion, the resident was cited as saying.
He had been hospitalised and was receiving treatment, it said.
Khit Thit Media also reported the blasts, citing an unnamed NLD official in the area.
The Chinland Defence Force, a newly formed militia in Chin state bordering India, said on its Facebook page on Tuesday that its forces had killed at least four Myanmar army soldiers and wounded 10 in a clash overnight.
Pro-democracy supporters held protests on Tuesday in the second-biggest city of Mandalay, including one by education staff calling for a boycot of schools and universities when they reopen in June, Myanmar Now reported.
In addition, anti-coup demonstrators marched in Kanbauk in southern Myanmar, photographs posted by Khit Thit Media showed.
The junta charged a Japanese journalist under a “fake news” law, a report said on Tuesday.
Freelance reporter Yuki Kitazumi was arrested last month and charged on Monday -- World Press Freedom Day -- with spreading fake news, according to a report by Kyodo news agency.
He is one of 50 journalists currently held in Myanmar as part of the junta’s crackdown on widespread protests against its Feb.1 coup.
Kyodo cited an unnamed Japanese embassy official saying Kitazumi had no health problems, despite spending several weeks in Yangon’s Insein prison, which has a long and unsavoury reputation for holding political prisoners.
Kitazumi has been in custody since April 18 -- the second time he had been arrested since the coup.