Yangon - Myanmar's state media on Tuesday blamed a bomb blast that killed a 26-year-old man over the weekend on the victim himself, described as a former Buddhist monk who had participated in the September 2007, "saffron revolution."

Thet Oo Win died in a bomb explosion at his home in Shwepyitha township in Yangon at 5:30 pm on Sunday.

A police investigation into the incident found various bomb-making paraphernalia including a 9-volt dry cell battery fastened with a wire, a damaged pieces of lithium battery, six electric detonators and ammonium nitrates at the victim's home, claimed The New Light of Myanmar, a military mouthpiece.

"According to items found at the scene, injuries and the way he lost his life, it is learnt that the blast occurred when Thet Oo Win was improvising the bomb," said the English-language newspaper.

It described Thet Oo Win as a former monk who had fled to the Thai-Myanmar border after September 2007, when Yangon was rocked by weeks of anti-government protests led by thousands of Buddhist monks, winning it the nickname of the "saffron revolution" by the Western press.

Saffron is the usual colour of monks' robes.

An army-led crackdown on the monk-led rebellion left about 40 dead, many missing and thousands in jail.

The junta's crackdown on the monks shocked both the international community and Myanmar's population, the vast majority of whom are practicing Buddhists. (dpa)