Suspect arrested for throwing petrol bomb at Suu Kyi’s house

YANGON: Myanmar police say they have arrested a mentally ill man who confessed to tossing a petrol bomb into the Yangon compound of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi this week.

Suu Kyi was not home when the crude bomb landed inside the gate of her lakeside villa on Thursday, causing little damage other than a fire that burned a water pipe. But the incident unnerved supporters of the Nobel laureate, who championed Myanmar´s democratic transition but has suffered a fallout with the international community over her failure to condemn army abuses against Rohingya Muslims.

Using photos taken by a witness of the attack, officers arrested Win Naing, 48, in the early hours of Friday, according to a report posted on Yangon police´s official Facebook page. “He confessed that he took a bottle filled with petrol...and threw it into the compound,” the report said, adding that Win Naing does a security job for a construction company. Police said they believe Win Naing has “mental health problems” but will continue to take legal action against him.