At least eight people were killed and 18 others injured on Wednesday after at least two bomb explosions and gunfire at Myanmar's biggest jail, according to media reports and an account from a witness.
Three officials and five visitors died at Yangon's colonial-era Insein prison after two explosions and gunfire was heard at about 9.40am local time near the facility's parcels counter, according to news portals Myanmar Now and Irrawaddy News.
It was unclear what caused the explosions and representatives of the prison and the military government could not immediately be reached for comment.
A witness told Reuters soldiers at the prison had opened fire in response to the blasts.
"As soon as I heard the blast, I ran out and that's when I got hurt. The soldiers...at the entrance gate fired shots recklessly," said the witness, who declined to be named because of security reasons.
The witness said they were about 10 feet (3 metres) away from the blasts and were not hurt by the explosion but from shrapnel from the gunfire.
Police were at the scene and inspecting the site of the explosions shortly afterwards, media reported.
Prison staff and couriers who were seriously injured were evacuated from the prison, while those not seriously injured were treated at nearby shops, according to BBC Burmese.
A number of cases scheduled to be heard in the adjacent court, were cancelled after the explosions, according to media reports.
Insein is the country's most notorious prison and thousands of political prisoners have been sent to the facility since last year's military coup.
A member of staff stands guard at Insein prison in Yangon, Myanmar, on Jan 3, 2019. (Photo: Reuters)
The junta blamed "terrorists" and said the dead included three prison staff and a 10-year-old girl.
It added that security forces had defused another "homemade mine" device found nearby.
One witness queuing at the counter told AFP the first blast had hit around 9.30am local time.
"Then another two went off quickly. After that we heard shooting as well," said the witness, who requested anonymity.
"I saw some people bleeding. The glass around the counter was all shattered."
According to another witness, security forces locked down the area around the sprawling, colonial-era prison after the blasts.
Rights groups say hundreds of political prisoners are held in Insein Prison, including former British ambassador to Myanmar Vicky Bowman and Japanese journalist Toru Kubota.
Pictures in local media purporting to capture the aftermath showed what appeared to be blood stains on the floor around a counter, and shattered windows behind.
No group has claimed the attack.
A junta spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
- Turmoil -
Myanmar has been in chaos since the military overthrew an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's party in a coup last year, and launched a brutal crackdown on dissent.
Self-declared civilian "people's defence forces" have sprung up to fight the junta and have surprised the military with their effectiveness, some analysts say.
Across the country, there are almost daily killings of low-level junta officials or alleged informers, with details murky and reprisals from the military often following quickly.
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Most of the violence has occurred in rural areas, although anti-coup fighters have also targeted officials and infrastructure in towns and cities.
In July, a bomb blast near a shopping mall in Yangon killed two people and wounded 11.
More than 2,300 people have been killed in the military's crackdown on dissent since the coup and over 15,000 arrested, according to a local monitoring group.
The junta blames anti-coup fighters for the deaths of almost 3,900 civilians.
This photo taken on Aug 10, 2022, shows anti-coup fighters with their weapons sitting in a field in Myanmar's northwestern Sagaing region. (Photo: AFP)