Bombings target Burmese New Year celebrations
Top news: The bombs ripped through New Year's celebrations in Burma's largest city, Yangon today. Estimated casualties run as high as 20 dead and 70 wounded. The bombings occurred around 3 p.m. local time near pavilions set up for the four-day festival marking the new year, at which revelers traditionally douse each other in water and white powder.
Burma's military government has blamed the attacks on "terrorists" but has not specified who might be behind them. It is the worst attack on Yangon since a supermarket bombing in 2005, which killed 11 people. That attack was blamed on rebels representing the country's Karen ethnic group as well as the political opposition. Tension between the government and rebel groups has been growing in recent weeks as the military has been attempting to forcibly recruit rebel fighters into a new border-patrol force.
Burma is expected to hold a general election later this year, though a specific date has not been specified. Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under intermittent house arrest for the last 21 years, will not be permitted to participate.
Sports: World Cup tickets went on sale in South Africa today.
Burma's military government has blamed the attacks on "terrorists" but has not specified who might be behind them. It is the worst attack on Yangon since a supermarket bombing in 2005, which killed 11 people. That attack was blamed on rebels representing the country's Karen ethnic group as well as the political opposition. Tension between the government and rebel groups has been growing in recent weeks as the military has been attempting to forcibly recruit rebel fighters into a new border-patrol force.
Burma is expected to hold a general election later this year, though a specific date has not been specified. Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under intermittent house arrest for the last 21 years, will not be permitted to participate.
Sports: World Cup tickets went on sale in South Africa today.
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-By Joshua Keating |
AFP/AFP/Getty Images
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