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Mine blast kills 3, injures 3 in eastern Myanmar

Sunday, 27 December 2015 10:30 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 27 December 2015 2:47 PM ]

Myanmar soldiers patrol in Laukkai, the main city in the Kokang region of Myanmar’s eastern Shan state, on February 16, 2015. ©AFP

A mine blast in a volatile region in eastern Myanmar has left three people dead and three others injured.

According to a Sunday report by the Myanmarese-language Myanma Alinn newspaper, the blast took place in Chin Swe Haw town in eastern Shan State’s Laukkai district on Saturday morning.

Two men and a woman died when the explosion hit a truck, while another three were taken to hospital to receive treatment.

Authorities reportedly found another improvised explosive device near the scene of the first blast which had not gone off.

Laukkai has so far witnessed heavy clashes between Myanmar’s army and ethnic Kokang rebels, which forced tens of thousands of people to escape to neighboring China earlier this year.

The self-administered Chinese-speaking Kokang region had been in a state of emergency since fighting erupted in the region on February 9 between government forces and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), known as the Kokang army.

The state of emergency was lifted last month after landmark elections.

Civil wars and insurgencies have long plagued Myanmar’s border areas. The military-backed government has tried to establish a wide ceasefire but some groups, including Kokang rebel fighters, have been left out of talks.

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