Myanmar police said Tuesday a bomb caused a blast at a luxury Yangon hotel that wounded an American guest, as they questioned several suspects following a series of unexplained explosions.

Officials voiced fears that the incidents could be aimed at derailing democratic reforms as the country prepares to host a major regional sporting event and chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

A suspected bomb blast shook a luxury hotel in Myanmar's main city Yangon late on Monday, leaving one U.S. guest slightly wounded, police said.

It was the latest in a series of mysterious bomb explosions in the former military-ruled country that have left two people dead and several wounded in recent days.

Police in Myanmar said Monday they were investigating a series of mysterious bomb blasts that have left two people dead and several wounded in recent days.

A man and a woman were killed and another person was injured in an explosion Friday at a guesthouse in the town of Taunggu about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from the capital Naypyidaw, police said.

Myanmar and Kachin rebels signed a fresh peace deal Thursday, government mediators said, the latest step in efforts to end the country's last major active civil war.

The deal, which follows three days of negotiations, was aimed at laying the "foundation for political dialogue" and working towards ending the conflict in Kachin that broke out two years ago when a 17-year ceasefire crumbled.

Myanmar on Thursday looked to build on a tentative peace deal with Kachin rebels, with talks aimed at ending the country's last major active civil war.

Fighting in northern Kachin state has displaced tens of thousands since a 17-year ceasefire crumbled two years ago, with bouts of heavy combat that have undermined the reformist government's aim of securing countrywide peace.

Police have arrested 44 people in connection with deadly anti-Muslim violence in western Myanmar, state media said Sunday, after the latest violence erupted during a presidential tour of the strife-torn region.

Days of tensions in the town of Thandwe in restive Rakhine State turned into bloodshed on Tuesday, with a mob of hundreds descending on one outlying village torching homes and attacking local Muslims.

With a whiff of controversy and not a bikini in sight, a U.S-educated business graduate was selected as the first Miss Universe contestant to represent Myanmar in more than 50 years.

Moe Set Wine will take her place on stage at the global beauty pageant in Moscow next month, reflecting dramatic political and social changes in the former junta-ruled nation, which last fielded a Miss Universe contender in 1961.

Terrified women and children hid in forests and security forces patrolled tense villages in western Myanmar on Wednesday, residents said, after sectarian clashes which left five Muslims dead.

President Thein Sein was expected to visit the violence-racked area as part of his first official visit to Rakhine state since a wave of religious bloodshed erupted there last year.

Fresh sectarian violence erupted in western Myanmar Tuesday, leaving one person dead and homes set ablaze as President Thein Sein made a rare visit to the troubled region.

Attacks against Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar have overshadowed widely praised political reforms overseen by the former general since military rule ended in 2011.

A shallow 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck close to Myanmar's second-biggest city on Friday evening, seismologists said.

The quake hit at 6:54 pm local time (1224 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers (six miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.