A petrol bomb was hurled at the Yangon residence of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday morning. No one was injured at the compound and Burma’s de facto leader was away in Naypyidaw at the time.
Zaw Htay, a spokesperson for the state counsellor, said that police are pursuing leads regarding the suspected perpetrators of the attack and are actively seeking their arrest.
“Security forces were alerted after the attack. But we are always caring for the security of the state counsellor. Now, we need to be even more careful,” he said.
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He added that law enforcement authorities had obtained photos of at least one suspected offender.
A Facebook page run by the Yangon Police Force posted photos of a man suspected of involvement, as well as the charred remains of the bottle that apparently served as the vessel for the incendiary device, often referred to as a “Molotov cocktail.” The post urged anyone with knowledge of the incident to report it to police, providing several phone numbers as well as two images of a man dressed in a pink short-sleeved shirt and longyi, described as in his 40s.
Suu Kyi’s lakeside Yangon residence is situated on University Road in Bahan Township. It is something of a city landmark, given that she spent more than a decade under house arrest there. The gate outside her house was frequently a rallying point for Burma’s pro-democracy movement under military rule.
Since she assumed her role as state counsellor, however, Suu Kyi has spent much of her time in the capital Naypyidaw, where she was on Thursday morning.