Bomb attack on Burmese general
Mail bomb kills
daughter of military
leader
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RAN
GOON, Burma ? A mail bomb exploded in the
home of a
leading member of Burma?s military government,
killing his
eldest daughter.
A
senior military officer confirmed that an explosion
occurred at
8:52 p.m. Sunday at the house of Gen. Tin Oo, the
army chief
of staff.
Tin
Oo was believed to have been the target of bombs
that
exploded last December at a Rangoon pagoda, killing five
people. The
blasts occurred shortly after Tin Oo visited the
temple.
The
senior military officer, who spoke on condition of
anonymity,
said Tin Oo was not injured in Sunday?s explosion.
But a
government statement confirmed today that his eldest
daughter,
Cho Lei Oo, 34, was killed.
The
government statement called the attack a ?terrorist
bomb
explosion? and said a parcel bomb was suspected.
A
funeral for Cho Lei Oo was scheduled for Tuesday.
She was
married to an army major and had two children.
The
re was no claim of responsibility and the government
did not
initially accuse anyone. The government has blamed
past
bombings on communists, rebel groups and
pro-democra
cy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991
Nobel Peace
Prize. All deny such charges.
A
spokesman for Suu Kyi?s party described the bombing
as ?an act
of cowardice? and said the group had no connection
with the
attack.
Two
rebel groups ? the Karen National Union and the
All-Burma
Students Democratic Front ? told The Associated
Press in
Bangkok, Thailand, they also had nothing to do with
the blast.
Man
Sha, vice secretary-general of the Karen National
Union,
attributed the attack to a rivalry within the ruling State
Law and
Order Restoration Council, in power since 1988.
?Th
is situation does not concern the KNU. It concerns
the SLORC,?
Man Sha said. ?Inside their army, they?re having
more and
more power struggles.?