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One suspect detained after Rangoon hotel blast

One suspect has been detained in connection with the explosion that went off at Rangoon’s Traders Hotel just before midnight on Monday, according to police who said the blast was caused by a small, homemade time-bomb.

Speaking to DVB on Tuesday, the police officer in charge at Kyauktada police station said that a Burmese national was in custody and that he has been preliminarily charged under the Explosives Act.

A 43-year-old American woman who is based in Hong Kong was slightly injured with wounds to her thigh and hand, and taken to a Rangoon hospital for treatment.

Her husband and their two children, aged five and seven, were reported to be unhurt. It is suspected that the bomb exploded in the bathroom of family’s ninth-floor room in the prestigious 22-story hotel. The blast shattered at least one window sending shards of glass raining down on the street below.

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Police with sniffer dogs have cordoned off the hotel in central Rangoon and security forces wearing bullet-proof vests are surveying the scene.

US consular staff are reported to be assisting the injured woman.

The Traders Hotel blast was followed by two small explosions at 3am and 5am in Sagaing, central Burma, where police have told DVB there were no reports of injuries.

A district police commander in Sagaing said the first bomb went off at a restaurant on the third floor of the Shwepyisone Hotel at around 3am, followed by a second blast at around 5:45am in the parking lot of the Swan Oo Pon Nya Shin pagoda on Sagaing Hill.

“We have learnt they were time-bombs and the investigation is currently ongoing,” he said. “There were no casualties or significant property damage.”

The police commander added that security in the area has been increased.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts or any of the other string of incidents involving explosions and detonated bombs across the country in recent days.

Police have called on the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious packages found at bus or train stations or at the seaport.

 

 

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