Revolutionary forces are sceptical of junta claims that a downtown Yangon bomb that killed one and injured over 10 was the work of a PDF.
The incident happened near to a bus stop on Barr Road in downtown Yangon at around 3:20 p.m. on the afternoon of 31 May. According to reports one person was killed and at least 10 others were injured in the blast.
Pictures published by local media showed passers-by tending to several injured people as they lay on the ground, and what appeared to be blood on the pavement. Other images showed damaged walls and debris strewn across the floor.
A local volunteer paramedic who arrived on the scene shortly after the explosion told AFP his team had taken two seriously injured people to hospital.
After the blast junta troops and police came and blocked the road from the top of Pansodan to the corner of Anawrahta Road.
Security forces later found an unexploded grenade near the site of the blast, a police source said.
One man in his 30s died from his injuries after being taken to a hospital and nine others were receiving treatment, the junta's information team said in a statement.
According to reports received by Mizzima at least 10 people were injured in the blast.
The blast came from a "homemade mine', said the junta statement and it blamed the attack on People's Defence Force (PDF) fighters.
But no group has claimed responsibility for the attack and anti-junta groups reject the junta narrative.
Captain Moegyo, a representative of the Yangon Regional Military Command PDF said that the military carried out the blast in an attempt to derail the revolution.
He said: “It is clear that the military council wants to disrupt the revolution and they want to disrupt relations between our PDF comrades and the public. Their strategy is to hold people hostage and harm them. We send our deepest condolences to all the victims. We are really sad for this loss of innocent people’s [lives]. We will retaliate effectively against the terrorist military council.”
He added that PDFs would never harm members of the public or set off bombs in crowded areas.
He said: “Everyone knows that the PDFs have never harmed the people. People already know who shoots innocent people in the head; who arrests and tortures innocent villagers and sets fire to villages and so on; I am certain that the explosion at the bus stop was orchestrated by the terrorist military council and their pro-military militia groups.”
The PDF groups work under the National Unity Government (NUG) shadow government. The NUG said that it would continue to investigate such terrorist acts, so that the perpetrators can be bought to justice.
Dr. Sasa, an NUG spokesperson and the NUG Union Minister of the Ministry of International Cooperation said in a statement: “We will do everything we can to get justice for the victims. We stand in solidarity with them, and we strongly condemn acts of terrorism against the people of Myanmar. We must end the junta's reign of terror against the entire population of Myanmar. We all have a responsibility to end this. This is the darkest moment for the brave people of Myanmar especially for the families of those affected by the genocidal military attacks and bombings on innocent civilians.”
The Civil Guerrilla Force YGN, an urban guerrilla force not under the control of the NUG, also released a statement saying that the blast was not the work of PDFs or urban guerrilla forces because they never harm people and would never carry out any actions that may potentially injure or kill innocent civilians.
