We did not plant bombs: KNU

Recent bombings in Myanmar were aimed at deterring foreign investment and tourists from entering resource-rich Kayin (Karen) State on the Thai border, say police.  

Chief of National Police Zaw Win said the bomb blasts and plots in Bago, Yangon, Mandalay and Sagaing regions were masterminded by a group of mining businessman led by Nay Toe, with reported links to the armed Karen National Union (KNU) rebels. His accomplice, Saw Myint Lwin, had confessed this information during interrogation, the police chief said on Friday. 

Saw Myint Lwin confessed to planting bombs at Western Park Ruby Restaurant and the Traders Hotel in Yangon, where an American tourist was hit by a blast, and in Phyu and Taungoo. He was offered a permit for a gold mine if the attacks were successful, said the police chief.  

“The main reason for the bomb attacks was to deter foreign investment. We will try to arrest Nay Toe, who is still at large, in cooperation with the KNU,” said Police Chief Zaw Win. 

Presidential spokesman Ye Htut said during Friday’s press conference  that the KNU was not responsible for  the bombings. “We do not believe the KNU is involved, even though one of the bombers is a former member,” he said.

Of the 10 home-made bombs planted in October, with six exploded, leaving two dead and three injured, said the police chief. Eight suspects have been arrested for questioning, he added. 

Police said the bombs found in various states and divisions across the country were the same type that the KNU used in attacks against the government army over decades of civil war. Saw Myint Lwin had served five years with the KNU. A senior general from the political wing of the armed rebels has denied that the KNU – who signed a ceasefire with the government last year – had any links to the bombings.

“We are staying in the jungle. We do not know anything about these bombings,” Gen Saw Johnny, commander-in-chief of the KNLA, told The Irrawaddy. “We don’t know who did it and we also do not have any evidence to provide. It is not our members who have done this.”

His denial was echoed on Sunday by  KNU leader Mahn Nyein Maung.