Burma launches probe into fatal border blast
Source : AFP
Burma authorities began investigating a blast which killed seven Burmese citizens and wounded at least 27 near a border checkpoint, a Thai army official said.
"They are questioning witnesses and relatives of the dead and injured people to find the cause of the blast," said the official with the Third Army, which patrols the northern border region.
The explosion occurred Monday afternoon on the Burmese side of the Thai-Burmese Friendship Bridge which crosses into this border town.
The crossing was re-opened Tuesday, and scores of Thai military personnel were patrolling the area, an immigration official told AFP.
Thai authorities said the bomb was fitted to a three-wheel bicycle cart, used to carry passengers or produce, which was parked in the Burmese township of Myawadi, only 20 metres (yards) away from a military checkpoint.
Traffic across the bridge between Mae Sot and Myawadi was much heavier than normal Monday due to festivities for the traditional Buddhist new year which began in both countries on Saturday.
Thousands of people had flocked across the border into Mae Sot to visit a funfair and to watch kick-boxing and football tournaments.
The area of town near the border crossing was the focus for the celebrations, with hundreds of stalls set up along the road leading up to the checkpoint.
While there was no official theory as to the cause of the bomb, a Thai military source said Monday it could be linked to ethnic militias fighting in the area.
The source said it could have been a revenge attack by the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) after the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a rival group allied with Burma's military government, which bombed a gas station in Mae Sot district last week, injuring four people.
Thai and Western tourists also use the bridge to cross into Burma, many traveling on day passes issued at the border.
Burma authorities made no immediate comment on the blast.
Myanmarese hijacker denied bail
The Times of India; Apr 16, 2002
KOLKATA: Rejecting the bail petition of
Myanmarese student leader Soe Myint, accused of hijacking a Thai Airways plane
on November 10, 1990, SDJM of Barrackpore Utpal Mishra on Sunday remanded him in
judicial custody till April 17.
Soe Myint had hijacked the aircraft to draw attention to the atrocities
committed by the military junta in MyanmarŒ along with another student, Ye Htin
Kyaw alias Kyaw Zeya.
The then state home secretary Manish Gupta had written to the joint secretary
of the Union home ministry (memo no. 555-8H dated July 8, 1995) that the cases
be withdrawn on humanitarian ground.
Thai Airways had also not shown interest in pursuing the case as Myint had
not resorted to violent means while hijacking the plane. Freed on bail, Soe
Myint was running a news agency in New Delhi.
On April 10, a West Bengal CID team went to Delhi and arrested him again. He
was brought to the city on Saturday. CID sources said he was charged under
sections 4 and 5 of the anti-hijacking Act and under sec-tions 342, 506 and 120B
of the IPC.
Soe Myint told TNN in court that though he was accused of jumping bail, he
felt it was a conspiracy of the Myanmarese government. He is a supporter of Aung
San Suu Kyi¡s National League for Democracy. His news bureau, Mizzima,
specialises on Myanmar-related news and his feed is
used by the Myanmarese radio. His UNHCR recognition as refugee is valid till
September 24 this year (memo HCR/BUOOO-147). His wife Thin Thin Aung, who was
not allowed to meet him, feared that the Myanmarese junta might be pressing for
the extradition bona fide political refugees in India.
Soe Myint¡s counsels Nandita Haksar and Ajoy Dutta said he was a professional
journalist and was being forced by the CID to disclose his news sources.
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