By Xinhua
Yagon : The Myanmar authorities have called on all business circles in the city of Yangon to cooperate with the authorities to step up their security measures following a series of bomb blasts here in the past 10 days.
According to Sunday’s local weekly Voice, operators of shops, restaurants, roadside vendors and supermarkets have been asked to report to the authorities any suspicious event to prevent any probability that may affect the security.
Especially with the Aung Mingala Highway Bus Terminal which accommodates daily an average of 50,000 incoming and outgoing passengers, security checkup was intensified in bus terminals and police are checking passengers’ luggage with the help of mine-hunting dogs.
In recent weeks, barricades were put on some main roads in the city and vehicles were intersected for tight security checks especially at night time, witnesses said.
Four bomb explosions have been occurred in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw, two in Bago division and one in Yangon, separately, since Jan. 11.
The Nay Pyi Taw bomb blasted at a public toilet in the compound of staff quarters near Pyinmana Railway Station on Jan. 11 and was suspected to have killed the bomber herself, who was identified later as Naw Gay Lar, 40.
The Phyu blast in Bago division happened later on the same day when a circus show was being held at a football ground, killing a man, 25, and wounding three other women and a child. The dead, allegedly a member of the anti-government ethnic armed group — Kayin National Union (KNU), blew himself off by the bomb when he was waiting for his partner to plant the bomb. A suspected man was also arrested by the authorities.
The Yangon railway station blast occurred on Jan. 13 at a women latrine and a woman was injured.
The blast in Kyaukkyi in Bago division on Jan. 16 killed a bus conductor. The bomb exploded on the rear part of a highway passenger bus while it was being parked for the passengers to have a break at a restaurant in Pyinpongyi of the division on Yangon-Mandalay highway, 108 kilometers to the north of Yangon.
Official newspapers have called on the country’s people to keep constant vigilance against alleged saboteurs by insurgents and expose them by sending information to the authorities in the wake of these series of bomb blast incidents taking place in the country.
The authorities accused insurgents of sending terrorists and explosives to the country across border to carry out sabotage.
Since the government adopted a policy of national reconciliation in 1989, 17 main anti-government armed groups have made peace with the government under respective cease-fire agreements except mainly the largest of them, the KNU.