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Petrol Bomb Tossed at Suu Kyi's Myanmar Home

Petrol Bomb Tossed at Suu Kyi's Myanmar Home

Thursday, 1 February, 2018 - 11:00
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi attends during an opening session of the 31th ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines, Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. AP

A man tossed on Thursday morning a petrol bomb at the lakeside Yangon compound of Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was not at home, officials said.


Damage was minor, Kyi Toe, an official from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party wrote in a Facebook posting.


"Nothing was destroyed or burned... Our respected security forces are continuing their work so they can arrest the culprit," he added.


But the attack is symbolic -- Suu Kyi was held for long years at the house by the former junta, occasionally leaning over the famous gates in appearances that galvanized the democracy movement.


Government spokesman Zaw Htay confirmed the attack, without speculating on a possible motive.


But he circulated a photo on his Facebook page of a suspect wearing a pink t-shirt and blue longyi.


Zaw Htay said a video made by a passenger in a passing car showed the alleged bomb-thrower fleeing the scene.


The democracy heroine has lost much of her luster in the eyes of the international community over her perceived failure to speak up on behalf of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim community.


Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled a brutal military crackdown in northern Rakhine state into refugee camps in Bangladesh since August, bringing with them testimony of murder, rape and arson.


US diplomat Bill Richardson was the latest to lambast Suu Kyi last week as he resigned from her panel set up to ease communal tensions in Rakhine.


He decried the Nobel Laureate's "absence of moral leadership" over the crisis, saying he could not serve on a committee likely only to "whitewash" the causes behind the Rohingya exodus.


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