Stranger enquires about Kachin boarding school before blast

Burning houses after strong bomb blast at Dayau Tang Gun's two-storeyed house at N'Jang Kawng (Thita) ward in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

A stranger asked questions about the Kachin boarding school in Myitkyina, the main ethnic Kachin city in Burma’s far north, to a local woman before the explosion in the school on November 13, killing 11 students and injuring 28, said residents.

A woman in Ayeyar ward was asked about the boarding school’s owner in Burmese language in the morning.  She was asked “Where is U Tang Gun’s house?” by a stranger on a motorcycle, who was likely to be a government agent.  She replied “I don’t know”, said sources close to the woman.

A powerful bomb was hurled at the in-house school boarding headed by Dayaw Tang Gun in N’Jang Kawng (Thida in Burmese) ward at around 8 p.m. local time.

The explosion killed 11 students, including the two sons of Tang Gun and injured 28, according to Myitkyina Hospital sources.

Among the eight students killed in the blast were orphans and war IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) from Ga Ra Yang village on the Myitkyina-Manmaw(Bhamo) Road, where clashes are underway between Burmese Army troops and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldiers.

The boarding school and three adjacent houses were gutted following the blast.

People in the Kachin capital told Kachin News Group that they think the attack was carried out by government agents because its troops are losing out in their military offensive against the KIA in the ongoing civil war in Kachin State.