YANGON — A radical Buddhist monk blamed Muslim extremists Monday for a small bomb that detonated in Myanmar just a few meters from where he was delivering a sermon, though police said it was too early to speculate. Five people were injured, but only slightly. The blast, which occurred at 9 p.m. Sunday during a religious ceremony on the outskirts of Mandalay, comes as the predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million struggles to contain religious violence that has claimed more than 250 lives in the last year. Most of the victims have been members of the country's minority Muslim population, hunted down by frenzied Buddhist mobs. Monk Ashin Wirathu — accused of inciting the bloodshed with his hate-filled, anti-Islam rhetoric — seemed unfazed after the attack and quietly carried on with his sermon, said Ma Sandar, a witness. “It wasn't a loud explosion,” the 35-year-old said, comparing the sound to that of a tire blowing out. “But it caused some commotion. Many people left.” Myanmar has won international praise in the last two years for implementing sweeping political and economic reforms following a half-century of brutal military rule and isolation. But the nominally civilian government of President Thein Sein has been largely silent as Buddhist mobs have gone on rampages in several cities, chasing down victims with metal pipes, chains and swords, and torching mosques and Muslim-owned shops and homes. Apart from those killed, over 140,000 have fled their homes. A police officer, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said it was unclear who was behind Sunday's bombing. The monk immediately called it the “work of Islamic extremists.” “Ordinary Muslims wouldn't have done this,” he told the AP by telephone Monday from his monastery in Mandalay. — AP
