Four bomb blasts were reported Friday in central Myanmar's Mandalay Division, leaving at least four people injured, officials said, according to dpa. Officials in the capital, Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of Yangon, confirmed an explosion occurred there in a deserted building near Tha Pyay Gon Market. No one was injured. It was the second explosion in Myanmar's capital this month. On June 10, a bomb exploded in a men's toilet at another market. No one was injured in that blast either. An second explosion was reported Friday in the city of Mandalay, about 450 kilometres north of Yangon, sources said. The bomb, which had been placed in a car parked near the Zaycho Market, injured four people, said an official who asked to remain anonymous. Later in the day, a fourth bomb, hidden in a trash bin, also detonated in the same area. There were no injuries in that incident. A third blast was reported in Pyi Oo Lwin town. Bomb blasts have been rare in central Myanmar in the past although several have been reported in Yangon, Myanmar's former capital and largest city. The government regularly blames such incidents on insurgent groups, such as the Karen National Union, an ethnic minority group that has been fighting for the autonomy of the Karen State since 1949. Myanmar strongman Senior General Than Shwe reportedly decided to move the capital from Yangon to Naypyitaw in 2005 for security reasons, deeming the port city of Yangon too vulnerable to attack by sea. The country was under military dictatorships from 1962 to 2010 and is now under the rule of a pro-military elected government after polls held in November.
