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2021.05.04 14:28 GMT+8

Myanmar parcel bomb blasts kill five including ousted lawmaker: media

Updated 2021.05.04 14:28 GMT+8
CGTN

Thet Win Hlaing's profile picture /CCTV

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.

Since the major military takeover on February 1, Myanmar has seen an increasing number of small blasts in residential areas, sometimes targeting government offices or military facilities.

The latest blasts were in a village in the southern central part of Myanmar in Western Bago, which occurred at around 5 p.m. local time 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 Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy (NLD) party, as well as the three police officers and a resident, the report said.

The lawmaker killed in the blast is Thet Win Hlaing, a regional MP from NLD. He was in hiding with the three police officers at a home in Zee Oke village tract when the explosion occurred. The fifth victim was the owner of the home. 

Another police officer involved in the civil disobedience movement was also severely wounded after his arms were blown off by the explosion, the resident was cited as saying. He was hospitalized and is receiving treatment, it said.

Khit Thit media also reported the blasts, citing an unnamed NLD official in the area.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports and a military spokesman did not answer a phone call seeking comment.

Ethnic militias have also backed opposition to the military government, and the military is fighting these groups on the fringes of Myanmar.

On Monday, the Kachin Independence Army, an ethnic rebel group, said it had shot down a military helicopter as fighting in the country's northern and eastern frontier regions intensified.

Domestic media also reported that a local administrator had been stabbed to death in the main city, Yangon.

On April 26, an armed ethnic group Karen National Union attacked and captured a base of Myanmar government forces in eastern Myanmar near the Thai border. Local residents said there was heavy gunfire, with heavy weapons, including artillery, used in the clash. Clashes between the two sides have been ongoing for weeks.

Last month, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held an emergency meeting in Jakarta on the Myanmar crisis, and agreed on the need for an immediate cessation of the violence in the nation.

ASEAN leaders wanted a commitment from Min Aung Hlaing to restrain his security forces, which an activist monitoring group says have killed 745 people since a mass civil protest erupted after the military takeover. 

(With input from Reuters)

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