Beijing, March 14 (IANS): China on Saturday summoned Myanmarese ambassador Thit Linn Ohn after a Myanmar warplane reportedly dropped a bomb on its territory, killing four civilians, a media report said.

China said the bomb from the Myanmar aircraft fell on Friday in a sugarcane field near the city of Lincang, in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan. Nine people were wounded, according to state media reports.

To lodge a formal protest, China's Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin summoned the Myanmar's ambassador to Beijing.

Myanmar government forces last month launched a major offensive against rebels on the border with China.

But Myanmar has denied that any bomb from its forces had fallen in China and said the rebels might have fired into China to create “misunderstanding”, the South China Morning Post reported.

China recently warned Myanmar that the escalating conflict in the Kokang region could destabilise the border area.

According to a BBC report, some 30,000 Myanmar refugees have fled to China after the military operation began. Myanmar is fighting ethnic Han Chinese rebels in the remote region, in its north-western state of Shan.

Some media reports said that China has sent fighter jets to patrol the Myanmar border after the reported bombing incident.