Soldiers and police sealed off two supermarkets and a convention centre yesterday in the capital of military-ruled Burma, where a series of bomb explosions blamed on rebels and a dissident group killed at least 11 people and wounded 162 others. City residents were fearful of more explosions after the blasts, which occurred over a 10-minute period on Saturday at the exhibition centre in western Rangoon, and then at two upscale City Mart supermarkets in the northern and northwestern sections of the city.

Soldiers and police sealed off all three sites yesterday as workers began removing broken glass and covering window openings with plywood.

Thailand's state news agency yesterday put the death toll at 20, citing Suriya Lapwisuthisin, the Thai deputy commerce minister. The number couldn't be immediately confirmed. Three people, including a Buddhist monk, were killed at the convention centre. The victims were from Burma, but some Thais were hurt in a stampede that followed the blasts.

The junta blamed ethnic rebel groups such as the Karen National Union and the Shan State Army and a self-proclaimed government-in-exile called the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma for the attacks.

"We totally reject this accusation by the military," Sann Aung, an NCGUB minister, said. "We're never involved in terrorism and also we are never involved in bomb blasts."

Yesterday, a Thai C-130 military transport evacuated some 122 Thai citizens who had attended the trade show at the behest of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

PHOTO CAPTION

Burma Democratic Action Group leader Than Swe (2nd R in brown suit) demands on staging a protest in front of the Kyoto International Conference Hall where Asian and European foreign ministers, including Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win, are attending the Asian-Europe Meeting (ASEM) as Japanese police officers (L and R) tell the group to disperse May 7, 2005. (REUTERS)