Three people have been killed and four others injured in mine
blasts in two states of Myanmar, the official newspaper New
Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.
The three villagers died when they respectively stepped on mines
allegedly planted by insurgents in Ye township in southeastern Mon
state and Kyaukkyi township in northeastern Kayin state on Monday,
the report said.
So far during this year, some shooting incidents by insurgents
in the country were also reported by state-run media.
In June, a total of 27 people were killed and 11 others wounded
in two shooting sprees by unidentified insurgent groups in Myanmar
's Kayin and Kayah states in two consecutive days. The attacks were
launched on passenger buses, according to the earlier reports.
In early September, a Thai worker working with a Thai hydropower
project in Kayin state was also killed in an artillery attack on
the project site by an anti-government ethnic armed group. Smarn,
54, died among 13 Thais engaged in the Hatkyi hydropower survey
project at Malaryu in the state's Hlaingbwe township when a shell
of the heavy weapon landed on the site and exploded.
The authorities charged the Kayin National Union (KNU) armed
group with being responsible for that incident.
Since the government adopted a policy of national reconciliation
in 1989, 17 main anti-government armed groups have made peace with
the government, returning to the legal fold under respective
cease-fire agreements.
(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2007)
