Myanmar reaffirms further investigations into bombing incident

LANGKAWI, Malaysia - Myanmar's Defense Minister Wai Lwin said here Monday that the Myanmar government will conduct further investigations into the bombing incident across the Myanmar-China border which left five Chinese citizens dead and eight others injured last week.

Wai Lwin, who is attending a three-day ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting here, said that the Myanmar government has expressed condolences to the victims of the bombing.

Speaking at a press conference, he said an investigation commission will be formed to find out the root cause of the incident.

"Myanmar and China have maintained very good neighborly relations and friendly relationship for many years, and we adhere to the principles of very peaceful relationship and hope to ease the boarder tension with support of diplomatic arrangements," he said.

On March 13, a bomb dropped by a Myanmar warplane hit a sugarcane field in the border city of Lincang, China's southwestern Yunnan province, killing five people and injuring eight others working there in the afternoon.

Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission Fan Changlong has warned that no further deadly stray fire incidents should happen or the Chinese military will take "firm and decisive action" to protect the safety of its people.

He also urged Myanmar to punish the perpetrators and apologize to and compensate the families of the victims.

China's Air Force have sent fighter jets to patrol over the China-Myanmar border areas to "track, monitor, warn and chase away " Myanmar military planes flying close to China.

The relations between China and Myanmar, sharing a border line of over 2,000 km, have been upgraded to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.