Country Reports on Terrorism 2007 - Burma

Bilateral relations between Burma and the United States remained strained. The government defined almost all anti-regime activities as "acts of terrorism" and made little distinction between peaceful political dissent and violent attacks by insurgents or criminals. The Burmese government was quick to characterize dissident groups as aligned with terrorist organizations and used this as justification to scrutinize and disrupt their activities. In the past several years, bombs have exploded in Rangoon and other parts of Burma. In most incidents, the Government of Burma claimed the incidents were a subversive act, "committed by a group of insurgent destructive elements who wanted to disturb and destroy stability of the state." Authorities did not make public any evidence of a genuine investigation or identify the specific perpetrator(s). Requests by the U.S. Embassy to view either the scenes or remaining fragments of the explosive devices were consistently denied.