A police officer was killed in a blast at a gems trading center in Mandalay’s Maha Aungmyay Township on Monday while inspecting a “suspicious package,” according to an eyewitness.
Cpl Htin Lin Aung and police 2nd Lt Myint Zaw Oo from the No. 7 police station were looking at the package at 6:30am in the northwestern corner of the trading centre in Eastern Thanlyat Maw ward when it suddenly exploded.
“They were inspecting a suspicious package and the package exploded while they were inspecting it,” an eyewitness from the ward said.
Cpl Htin Lin Aung died on the spot after getting hit in the chest by the blast and 2nd Lt Myint Zaw Oo sustained serious injuries to his arm and head.
A social services vehicle from the township picked both men up soon after the blast, according to the eyewitness.
Myanmar Now contacted the Mandalay Police Force but the officer who answered the call refused to comment on the incident.
A resistance force by the name of “Burma Phoenix Organization” (BPO) claimed responsibility for the blast in a statement that described the attack as a response to the military council issuing an order to reopen the gems market.
The statement also said the group would take further action against junta-owned businesses, military informants and the administration officers where junta soldiers are stationed.
Although the military council first tried to reopen the Maha Aungmyay gems trading centre in the initial months after the February coup in an attempt to generate funds, the majority of gems traders refused to cooperate.
They instead started conducting business along the shores of the nearby Thingazar stream instead, and were met with military pressure to only make trades and sales inside the centre, so a portion of the proceeds could be collected by the junta.
“We just want to avoid paying taxes [to the military],” a gems trader who goes by Ko Thet said. “We can’t just stop doing business so we just decided to conduct business next to the stream. Then, the military started shooting and arresting us and forced us to go inside the building.”
On Friday afternoon, another bomb exploded near the centre but it at the time of reporting, it was not yet known if anyone was injured in the blast.
The Maha Aungmyay gems trading centre has a total of more than 1,000 booths and hosts both local and international business.
