YANGON: Myanmar banned the sale of remote-controlled children's toys because of fears they could be turned into detonators for bombs, a local weekly journal reported on Tuesday.

Toys such as model motor cars, planes and robots have been banned in Yangon since the first week of May, the Weekly Eleven journal said, quoting shop owners in the commercial capital.

The toys in question were mostly imported from neighbouring countries, the paper said, and the authorities would take action against anyone selling them.

Myanmar's military leadership have in the past accused dissidents of “terrorism”, and claimed that exiled pro-democracy groups were plotting attacks in Myanmar.

Twenty-three people were killed in May 2005 when three bombs hit two shopping centres and a convention centre in Yangon, an attack the junta blamed on a dissident student group.

The authorities have provided no evidence linking them to the blasts.—AFP