Feb 01, 2010 (DVB), A bomb was discovered near the office of a major ceasefire group and defused last week , while plotters are still at large, according to local sources.

Residents of Muse, a border town in northern Shan State near China’s Ruili, said the bomb, apparently a large one, was found near United Wa State Army (UWSA) office by locals who reported it to the authorities. It was later defused by a Burmese Army’s bomb squad last Thursday.

A Muse resident said the plotters and their motives were still unknown.

The incident was the latest in a series of unrest in northern Shan State after the general secretary of another ceasefire group in nearby Mongla was shot dead on Wednesday at the group’s headquarters.

Both the UWSA and the Mongla group, known officially as National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State, are still at loggerheads with Burma’s ruling junta over the latter's plan to transform them into Border Guard Force units.

Reporting by AKT