Myanmar opponents reject junta bombing charges

YANGON, Sunday (Reuters) Opponents of Myanmar's military regime denied on Sunday that they were responsible for three bomb blasts that killed 11 people and wounded 162 in the worst attacks in the former Burma in two decades.

The junta blamed three ethnic rebel groups and the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) for what it called "terrorist acts" on Saturday in the capital, Yangon.

The NCGUB, which set up a government in exile after the military rejected the 1990 election victory by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, dismissed the junta's charge.

"We are undergoing a non-violent struggle toward democracy and we totally reject the accusation and condemn whoever is behind these bombs," Sann Aung, a senior NCGUB member in Bangkok, told Reuters.Tensions between the junta and various ethnic rebel groups have increased following last October's purge of prime minister Khin Nyunt, who orchestrated more than a dozen rebel ceasefires.