A police official injured by a blast at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Naypyitaw on Tuesday will need to have his leg amputated, according to sources.
Police Lt-Col Zaw Than was one of four officers who sustained injuries in the explosion, which reportedly occurred during an inspection of evidence.
“The lieutenant colonel’s injury was something we call an open fracture. He’s scheduled to have an above-knee amputation today,” said an army officer who spoke to Myanmar Now on Wednesday.
According to the officer, all four injured police officers are currently receiving treatment at a 1,000-bed military hospital in Naytpyitaw’s Zayarthiri Township.
The other officers—two police lieutenants and a police major—will also require further treatment, the army officer added.
“The police major was injured in his shoulders, legs and neck. His vital signs are good. One of the other two was injured in his ankle, and the other one in both of his arms and legs,” he said.
The explosion on Tuesday was initially believed to have been targeted at the CID, which has been investigating a series of bombings carried out by opponents of the regime that seized power in February.
However, a police official who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity said the blast, which occurred at around 4pm on Tuesday, appeared to be accidental.
The CID headquarters is located in Zayatheidi ward, near the ministries of foreign affairs and information, in Naypyitaw’s Zabuthiri Township.
Earlier on Tuesday, a shuttle bus operated by the Ministry of Immigration and Population, which is also located in Zabuthiri Township, was hit by another explosion.
The anti-regime Naypyitaw People’s Defence Force (PDF) claimed responsibility for that attack, as well as one carried out on September 30 that targeted the military’s directorate of procurement in Pobbathiri Township.
The Naypyitaw PDF later released a statement warning of its plans to carry out even bigger attacks in the Myanmar capital in the near future.
Myanmar Now attempted to reach Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the junta’s information officer, for comment on the blasts in Naypyitaw, but its calls went unanswered.
