■MYANMAR
Army blames ‘insurgents’
The army-ruled state media blamed unnamed“insurgents” yesterday for bomb attacks that killed two people and wounded 10 last week. A man and woman were killed on Thursday when a bomb exploded in a video store in Kyaukkyi Township of Bago Division, about 190km north of the former capital, Yangon, the Kyemon newspaper said. Nine others were wounded in the blast. Separately, a villager in the same township was wounded by a bomb that exploded in a bamboo grove, the newspaper said.
■MYANMAR
Police bust opium ring
Police arrested 420 drug traffickers last month, state media reported yesterday, as the world’s second-largest opium producer sought to show it was cracking down on the narcotics trade. The UN anti-drugs body has said opium production in the country shot up 46 percent from 2006 to last year, but the military-ruled nation continues to insist that it is on track to be drugs-free by 2014. Police, customs and military said the seized some 151kg of opium, 7.5kg of heroin, 1,263kg of low-grade opium and 142,955 stimulant tablets, along with other batches of narcotics and chemicals, a local paper said.
■INDIA
Military tests missile
The military yesterday carried out a successful test of a homemade air-to-air missile designed for its air force, defense sources said. The Astra — Hindi for weapon — was fired from India’s Integrated Testing Range at Chandipur-on-Sea, some 200km northeast of Orissa’s state capital Bhubaneswar. The single-stage solid-fuel missile can carry a 15 kg conventional warhead. “Astra belongs to the beyond-visual range class of missiles capable of ducking radar eyes and attacking enemy targets up to 80 kilometers,” a defense official said on condition of anonymity. India routinely conducts missile tests and has built a range of ballistic and cruise missiles as a deterrent to China and Pakistan.
■INDONESIA
Police kill another Nigerian
A Nigerian was shot dead by police after he tried to escape a drug arrest in the second police killing of a citizen of the African country in as many days, a report said yesterday. The 38-year-old, identified only as Steve, was shot on Friday as he tried to flee police after being caught with 100g of heroin in Jakarta, the Jakarta Post daily reported. Police said they fired a warning shot before shooting the man, who died on the spot, the newspaper reported. Another Nigerian was shot dead and one wounded on Thursday when they resisted arrest during a raid on suspected drug traffickers in the capital, police said earlier this week. The country executed two Nigerians by firing squad in June for drug trafficking.
■JAPAN
Explosions heard near base
No injuries had been reported after two explosions were heard late on Friday near a US naval base where a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will soon dock south of Tokyo, police said yesterday. Police said investigations were underway and that rocket fragments had been found near the controversial naval base at Yokosuka, but few other details were available. Residents had reported that the roof of one nearby home had been damaged by the blasts, police said. The blasts occurred about two weeks before the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington is scheduled to arrive at the port city of Yokosuka on Sept. 25. It will be the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be stationed in the country.
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