Bomb blast: At least two bombs exploded outside a prison in Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon few hours before, killing eight people and wounding 18, the Military Administration, ‘Junta’ said.
The blasts hit a crowd lining up to drop off parcels and food-packets for inmates at “Insein Prison” today morning, the military administration information team claimed in a statement, without specifying exactly how many explosions had occurred.
The BBC’s Burmese-language news service reported that two parcel bombs had detonated on Wednesday morning, killing three prison staff and five visitors and injuring at least another 10 people as the explosions ripped through the prison’s mail room.
An eyewitness claimed that all the casualties were not caused by the bomb blasts itselves, but by the subsequent shooting from the watchtower.
“I am not sure if the shooters were soldiers or employees at the prison. They opened fire indiscriminately from a watchtower opposite the explosion site. There were around 10 rounds fired, and those hit people, too,” she told the reporters.
She further claimed that she saw five people fall and that they were carried away.
All court hearings inside the Insein Prison were subsequently cancelled for the day, according to the relative of a political prisoner who was at the location at the time of the attack.
No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, and Myanmar’s military council (Junta) has not issued a statement yet on the incident.
In-person meetings with relatives have been suspended owing to Covid-19 pandemic
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, in-person family meetings with prisoners across the country have been suspended. The ban still remains in place, widely seen as a measure imposed by the military administration to cut off communications between Myanmar’s thousands of political prisoners and from the outside world. Those detained on politically motivated charges have only been able to communicate with relatives through the lawyers representing them.
Military Junta authorities only allow prisoners access to weekly or fortnightly parcel deliveries from family members. This delivery of food and other basic supplies remains critical to the survival of those incarcerated under the military regime.
‘Insein’ is the country’s largest prison notorious for inhuman torture
‘Insein’ is the country’s largest prison with some 10,000 inmates; most of them are political prisoners.
Several foreigners are also held at the prison, including Japanese journalist Toru Kubota, who was jailed for 10-years on charges of a coup against the Military Junta.
Former UK Ambassador to Myanmar Vicky Bowman is serving a one year sentence at ‘Insein’ for failing to declare she was living at an address different from the one listed on her foreigner registration certificate.
The 100-year-old prison on the outskirts of the commercial capital Yangon is heavily guarded and is notorious for the ill-treatment, inhuman torture of inmates by the Military Junta administration.
Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER.
