Two individuals are being questioned by authorities for their possible connection with a bomb that exploded near an event where the Islamophobic monk Wirathu was speaking in Mandalay on Sunday, according to local police.
Four people were left with non-life threatening injuries after the explosion went off near a Dhamma lecture led by the ultra-nationalist Buddhist monk at Maha Aungmyay’s Yadana Bhumi ward.
The monk, who spearheads the anti-Muslim 969 movement, was quick to blame Islamic extremist for the attack.
“Ordinary Muslims wouldn’t have done this,” said Wirathu in a report published by the AP on Monday.
However, Burma’s police force has made no indication that Islamic extremists were behind the attack.
In July, Wirathu was featured on the cover of Time magazine along with the headline: “The Face of Buddhist Terror”. Burmese authorities later banned the issue, while Wirathu went on to blame Arabs for the publication’s coverage of radical Buddhist elements in Asia.
“Before I had heard [rumours] of the Arab world dominating the global media,” Wirathu told DVB during an interview in June.
“But this time, I’ve seen it for myself.”
Wirathu did not sustain any injuries following Sunday’s explosion.
