Yangon - A bomb blast in central Yangon Thu

Myanmar, Sept. 24 : Burma''s longest-serving political prisoner, 78-year-old Win Tin, was freed Tuesday after spending 19 years behind bars.

The journalist-turned-rebel activist, however, vowed to continue pressing for freedom from the junta''s 46 years of military rule.

According to Fox News, Win Tin, an activist who helped found Aung San Suu Kyi''s opposition party in 1988, was one of at least seven political prisoners released, according to Amnesty International.

There are still an estimated 2,100 political prisoners held in Burma, the rights group said.

Yangon - Myanmar's military government released the country's longest-serving political prisoner Tuesday afternoon as part of a broad amnesty in which more than
9,000 prisoners were freed.

U Win Tin, 79, had served nearly 20 years in prison, and was the country's longest-serving political prisoner before his release, he said after his release.

While still wearing prison clothing, he told a handful of journalists that the country's military rule must end, but he has no interest in taking part in a scheduled 2010 general election.

U Win Tin was one of 9,002 prisoners released in a general amnesty on Tuesday.

Yangon  - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has accepted food parcels from supporters at her home-cum-jail in Yangon, after refusing deliveries for a month to protest her detention, opposition sources said.

Suu Kyi accepted a food parcel from Ko Myint So, a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party which she leads, on Monday night for the first time since August 16, NLD sources confirmed.

Kyi Win, Suu Kyi's attorney who has met with her four times in recent weeks, said Monday that the Nobel peace laureate had refused food parcels "for the sake of the people, to help them obtain their rights and uphold the law."

Yangon - Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is thin and malnourished after refusing to receive food deliveries at her home-cum-jail for almost a month, her lawyer said Monday.

Kyi Win, Suu Kyi's attorney who has met with her four times in recent weeks, denied that the Nobel peace laureate had been on a hunger strike but had only refused food parcels since August 16.

"She did not refuse the food parcels for her own interest but for the sake of the people, to help them obtain their rights and uphold the law," said Kyi Win, speaking at his Yangon office.

Washington - The United States expressed concern Tuesday about the health of Myanmar democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who reportedly began a hunger strike last month to protest years of detention.

"The regime's continued isolation and detention under house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi makes it impossible to confirm reports such as these," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"The United States and the international community remain deeply concerned about her welfare."

McCormack called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners held by the regime in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.