Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) Myanmar rebel groups have denied any responsibilities for the three bombs that exploded on Saturday, May 7, that killed 11 people and wounded another 162.
State media controlled by the country's military junta were quick to blame three rebel groupsthe Shan State Army, the Karen National Union, and the Karenni National Progressive Partyas well as an exiled pro-democracy group for the "terrorist attacks" against two crowded shopping malls and a trade centre in Yangon.
For the military, the rebel groups want to destroy "peace and tranquillity" and undermine the state.
Rebel groups rejected the accusations and instead blame junta infighting for the attacks, saying that the violence is probably linked to the ousting of former Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt in October 2004.
Colonel Yod Suek of the Shan State Army said that "the reason for the bombs is a conflict of interest among senior officials of the army and has to do with the ousting of Khin Nyunt".
The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, which leads a government-in-exile after the military rejected the 1990 election victory by pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi (who is still under house arrest), rejected the military's allegations.
General Khin's fate remains uncertain after some 38 of his former confidants were tried and convicted last month.
According to some observers, "there is a high possibility that [the worse terrorist attacks in 20 years] are an internal power struggle involving the group that lost power."
The attacks have left people in shock. In Yangon, police armed with light weapons and truncheons are patrolling the streets of the capital, whilst residents gathered at Yangon's famed Shwedagon Pagoda to pray for the bomb victims.