A bomb exploded at a bank in northern Myanmar on Wednesday, killing at least two people and wounding 22 others, military officials said. The explosion occurred in the often lawless city of Lashio, in northern Shan State, which has been torn apart by ethnic strife and battles to control smuggling networks. One of Myanmar’s largest commercial banks, confirmed that two of its employees, Ma Maw Maw and Ma Sandar Tun, had been killed. “I heard the bomb blast and it felt like it also exploded my house,” said Min Nyunt, whose home is next to the Yoma Bank branch where the bomb went off. “Almost all of the bank has been destroyed.” Some think this is a matter of ethnic rebels acting out to make a change, but ethnic rebels routinely reject such accusations. They contend that Myanmar’s military faults ethnic insurgents for instigating violence to justify their brutal offensives against ethnic populations.
