Myanmar's military rulers announced late Sunday they had outlawed three political groups and an ethnic rebel army, accusing them of intending to disrupt stability in the country. The junta announced in an evening television news bulletin that the groups were "unlawful associations".
Earlier Sunday police accused one group, the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, of involvement in May 7 bomb attacks that killed 23 people and injured 162 others at two shopping malls and a convention hall in the capital.
The other banned groups include the US-based National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma made up of parliamentarians elected in a 1990 poll that was won by the National League for Democracy but never recognised by the junta. Also outlawed are the Federation of the Trade Union of Burma and the north-eastern Shan State Army, which in May merged with the Shan State National Army to fight the military government.
The junta believes "their intention towards us could be dangerous for the state's stability and also presence of law and order," the news report said.