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At the beginning of the year a popular astrologer in Rangoon unveiled his prophecy to close associates. "1997 will be an inauspicious year for Burma’s top generals," he said. "The omens suggest troubles await the country."His prediction gradually became public knowledge and shortly after, he was summoned and warned not to make further predictions about the future of the country or the leaders of the ruling Slorc. However, his prophetic powers apparently should not be underestimated. The recent bombing of a powerful Burmese general’s house on Manawhari street has so far proved the astrologer right. On the night of April 6, Cho Lei Oo, a history professor at Rangoon Arts and Science university (Hlaing Campus) received a parcel addressed to her father, Lt Gen Tin Oo, army chief of staff and secretary-two of the Slorc. As she unwrapped it a bomb inside the parcel exploded, cutting her in two pieces. The general escaped unharmed. The masterminds behind the attack apparently missed their target. But such a rare terrorist attack has shocked the junta and the opposition. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, called the act "cowardly". As Burma watchers pondered who the culprits were, the junta’s military intelligence service came out with a short statement two days after the attack saying the parcel bomb was air mailed from Japan. The Japanese Embassy in Rangoon was informed of the findings while Japan-based anti-Slorc groups denied the charges. "This is baloney," said Aung Thu, a member of Voice of Burma in Tokyo. "We don’t believe using terrorism will restore democracy in our country," he said. "In fact, it is they [the generals] who violently crushed and terrorized the innocent people." The dissidents in Japan have no history of such terrorist attacks. According to a statement issued by a joint action committee, "In Japan, the movement against the military regime has always been peaceful, disciplined and within the bounds of Japanese law". Two armed groups, the Karen National Union and the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, both based along the Thai-Burma border, quickly announced that they had nothing to do with the bombing. Back in Tokyo, Tin Khet commented, "It would be impossible to send a parcel bomb to Rangoon from Japan." All parcels are carefully X-rayed before being sent. Moreover, all parcel mail undergoes a second examination in Rangoon before being delivered. "If I send parcel to my family, it takes a few weeks to reach my home because the system in Rangoon post office is very slow," said Kyi Win in Tokyo. But if there is a parcel for VIPs the arrangement would be faster, he said. "Apart from close associates and security officers people in Burma hardly know where they [the generals] live", one resident added. In any case, Japanese police are investigating dissidents’ offices in Tokyo. But the question is why the parcel was sent from Japan, if indeed Japan is where it was sent from? Close relatives of Tin Oo are known to frequent Japan for shopping and business visits. A source in Tokyo said: "I have heard that they are here at the moment." That would explain why neither Tin Oo nor Cho Le Oo would be suspicious of the parcel that brought the deadly device into their home. They would have assumed that it came from their close friends or relatives in Japan. But one analyst believed that local hit men in Burma attached Japanese stamps and sent it to Tin Oo’s house. To do so, the bombers must have been well acquainted with Tin Oo’s family. Analysts said Tin Oo has been targeted since December when two bombs exploded at Rangoon’s Kabaye pagoda in which five people were killed and many injured. The first bomb went off after Tin Oo visited the pagoda. Slorc blamed the KNU, but evidence for the rebel group’s involvement was never presented. But why target Tin Oo? Some foreign observers have attributed the attack to Tin Oo’s repeated threats to "annihilate destructive elements and foreign stooges." But opposition groups in exile said the bombing was a result of power struggle and business conflicts in the ruling junta. Several analysts in Rangoon, however, disagreed. "If one faction wanted to remove Tin Oo there are many other ways — that’s not Slorc style."