Two Killed, 22 Injured in Bomb Blast in Myanmar’s Lashio

Two women were killed and at least 22 left injured when a bomb exploded on Wednesday at a bank in Lashio northeastern Myanmar’s Shan state, a region torn by fighting between government forces and ethnic separatist armies.

Speaking to RFA’s Myanmar Service, Lashio Youth Group member Tun Myint said that he and several others had arrived quickly on the scene to help those wounded in the blast.

“We got there as soon as we heard about the explosion, and we sent the injured people to the hospital,” he said.

“The bank building was totally destroyed.”

No suspects were identified in the attack at the Yoma bank, and police said an investigation was under way, according to a report by the Reuters news service.

The two women killed in the blast were identified as bank employees, Reuters said.

Myanmar’s civilian government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi continues to grapple with ongoing hostilities between various ethnic armed groups and the government military, and has also been slammed by rights groups and the international community over violence directed against Rohingya Muslims during an army crackdown in northwestern Myanmar’s Rakhine state that began in August.

The government is meanwhile trying to pull together a third round of nationwide peace talks, a key peace initiative spearheaded by Aung San Suu Kyi to try to end decades of civil wars between ethnic militias and the Myanmar army.

Reported and by Nay Rein Kyaw for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Richard Finney.