New Delhi – The Burmese military junta authorities are searching and monitoring crowded places such as traffic lampposts, markets and bus stops in the wake of the bomb blast yesterday near Maha Bandula Square, opposite the Rangoon Town Hall.

Local residents in Rangoon said that they were checking passengers commuting on buses in Pazundaung, Tamwe, Sule, Pansodan and Strand Road in Rangoon yesterday.

"They checked every passenger on board buses, taxis and city buses asking for their name, address, ID number, purpose of visit and place of departure among other details. They also noted down the license plate numbers of the vehicles," a passenger who was checked by officials said.

A bus passenger who travelled in a bus on the Tamwe route told Mizzima that the authorities searched the bags of the passengers too.

"In Tamwe Township, the authorities searched the bags of passengers travelling in buses. It was a nuisance and caused much embarrassment to passengers," he said.

The search teams comprised of security personnel in police uniforms, intelligence agents in plainclothes, USDA members and Fire Brigade members, it is learnt.

The state-run 'New Light of Myanmar' reported today that a bomb planted in the dustbin behind the No. 45 Route Bus Stop at Maha Bandoola Square, opposite the Town Hall exploded and injured seven people. Another bomb with a timer device was hidden in a cassette tape recorder. It was found and defused, the newspaper reported.

But though the newspaper didn't say who was responsible for the blast, it said the authorities will take severe action against those caused the explosion, the newspaper said.

The authorities launched a combing operation in Rangoon and have been checking people commuting in the city and searching suspicious places and persons since early September before the first anniversary of the saffron revolution of last September.