Police officers injured as PDF bombs checkpoint in Naypyitaw 

People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters in Naypyitaw’s Lewe Township bombed a security checkpoint on Monday morning, injuring at least two police officers in the latest of a series of recent attacks in the capital. 

The PDF said in a statement that at least three officers were injured, while a witness told Myanmar Now she only saw two officers injured on their faces and chests. 

After the explosion several police officers who had been standing away from the checkpoint ducked to the ground and pointed their guns at pedestrians, but did not shoot anyone, the witness said. 

Neither the Lewe police station nor junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun answered calls seeking comment on the attack. 

It is the fourth attack the local PDF has launched in Naypyitaw. In the first week of September, the group shot and killed a deputy sheriff in an assault on a checkpoint in Shan Su. It also claimed responsibility for killing a suspected military informant from the Maung Yan village tract in Ottara Thiri Township.

In late August the PDF said it killed 11 soldiers during an assault on a military column in Pyinmana Township. The junta has denied that the attack even took place. 

Ngwe Soe, the Naypyitaw PDF’s information officer, said the group would be accelerating its attacks against the junta in the city.

“We are preparing more bomb attacks in Naypyitaw,” he said. “We have to take extra care because of the tightened security. I would like to tell people to anticipate more attacks.” 

A local taxi driver said that the military has been carrying out more security checks than usual in the city and requiring people to obtain permission slips before travelling between townships.

“They usually let us go after we’ve told them which township we’re going to, but now we have to show them our permission slips,” he said. “Not just the driver but also the passengers have to show their permission slips. It’s worse for motorcyclists. They wouldn’t let them in and many had to turn back.”