Mae Sot (Thailand), Oct 17: Another two explosions have rocked the Thai-Myanmar border area, the latest in a series detonated since Myanmar reopened its checkpoints this week, Thai authorities said today.
Immigration officials at the Thai-Myanmar friendship
bridge in Thailand's Mae Sot district said two blasts occurred
15 kilometres into Myanmar's Myawaddy province yesterday
evening.
The officials told reporters there were no reports of
casualties from the latest explosions, but Myanmar vendors
said three Myanmar soldiers were killed and several were
injured.
Myanmar slammed its border checkpoints shut in May after
bloody clashes between its troops and another ethnic militia.
They were reopened on Tuesday after intensive diplomacy
between the neighbours defused the row.
Earlier yesterday a small bomb went off in Myawaddy town
near a pier controlled by the democratic Karen Buddhist army
(DKBA), a militia group aligned with the Myanmar army.
Another device fitted with a timer was found undetonated
nearby.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings, or
another explosion that occurred on Tuesday morning at a market
2.5 kilometres from the Thai border in the same area.
Myanmar authorities have stepped up security checks and
deployed an extra 100 soldiers to patrol public areas such as
markets, temples, schools and hospitals, the local vendors
said.
Bureau Report
