A man arrested in the Myanmar hotel bombing that injured a US woman had been under surveillance for his alleged involvement in the planting of a second device found at a restaurant the next afternoon, police said.
Authorities moved in on Saw Myint Lwin, 26, after matching his photograph with images captured on Traders Hotel closed circuit television (CCTV) camera, according to a statement issued by Mon State Police on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old rode his motorcycle through a barricade set up to apprehend him in Belin Township, it said, but police caught up with him following a chase. It was not immediately clear if charges had been filed.
The explosion at Traders Hotel, one of Myanmar’s ritziest, occurred in the heart of Yangon.
It was the most high-profile in a series of bombings that the government alleges is an attempt to tarnish the image of the budding democracy as it emerges from decades of oppressive military rule.
Officials said the attacks, which reportedly left two dead and several others wounded, appear to be organized, with a restaurant, two bus stops, Buddhist temples and a market all targeted. No one has claimed responsibility.
The homemade time bomb that went off just before midnight on Monday at the Traders Hotel was hidden in the bathroom in a US family’s room on the ninth floor. There was no indication that they had been specifically targeted.
On Tuesday afternoon, authorities safely detonated a bomb found at Western Park restaurant in Yangon.
Saw Myint Lwin was suspected of playing a role in that foiled plot, the Mon State Police statement said, without elaborating.
The government speculated the recent bombings were being organized by individuals or groups who want to smear the country’s image as it prepares to assume the ASEAN leadership next year.
It is also hosting the Southeast Asian Games — a showcase sporting event — later this year, said Ko Ko Hlaing, a political adviser to Burmese President Thein Sein.
US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Tuesday in Washington that she could not comment on any motive behind the bombings. She said the US embassy in Myanmar released a security message to alert US citizens who reside in or are traveling to the country over the recent bombings.
“While there is no indication at this time that any of these IEDs [improvised explosive devices] were specifically directed toward US citizens, the embassy asks that all US citizens exercise an appropriate level of caution,” she said.
Meanwhile, other Western governments have warned travelers to exercise extreme caution in Myanmar after a series of minor bomb blasts.
Britain, France and Australia all urged their nationals to be vigilant, although they stopped short of advising against travel to the former junta-ruled country.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion