Myanmar police blame "terrorists" for New Year blast

May 6, 2010, 11:14 GMT

Naypyitaw, Myanmar - Grenade attacks that killed 10 people in Yangon last month were the handiwork of four 'terrorists' belonging to the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW) group, Myanmar police said Thursday.

The April 15 attack with three grenades when people were enjoying the Thingyan Water Festival, marking Myanmar's traditional New Year, also wounded 168 people, police chief Khin Yi told a press conference in the country's new capital Naypyitaw, some 320 kilometres north of Yangon.

'This brutal act was committed by four terrorist murderers who are members of a group known as the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors,' Brigadier General Khin Yi said, linking the group to student dissident groups and ethnic minority insurgents based on the Thai-Myanmar border.

The attack was planned by VBSW leader Ye Thiha, who committed 19 terrorist acts in Myanmar between 2004 and 2008, the police chief claimed.

The three other perpetrators were identified as Aung Gyi, Thiha Zaw and Ohn Kyaw Htay. All four escaped.

Khin Yi linked the group to the All Burma Student Democratic Front and the Karen National Union (KNU), a dissident group and rebel force, respectively, based on the Thai-Myanmar border.

He claimed the terrorists' aim was 'to instill fear and unrest among the general public and eventually to disrupt the 2010 elections.'

Myanmar's junta has promised a general election some time this year, although it has yet to set a date for the polls.

The last election, held in 1990, was won by the National League for Democracy (NLD) party of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. But the NLD has been blocked from assuming power by the military for the past 20 years.

Myanmar has been under military dictatorships since 1962, who have justified their rule by pointing to the need to pacify numerous rebel groups, and now 'terrorists,' fighting the government.