At least 24 people were killed and 47 wounded while protesting against Myanmar’s military government after an army motorised paraglider dropped two bombs on the crowd, a spokesperson for the government-in-exile told BBC Burmese.
The military attacked on Monday evening as around 100 people gathered in Chaung U township in central Myanmar for a national holiday.
Thousands have died and millions have been displaced since a military coup in 2021, which triggered a civil war with armed resistance groups and ethnic militias.
After losing control of more than half the country, the army is making significant gains again, through an especially bloody campaign of airstrikes and heavy bombardment.
Monday’s attack is just one of hundreds of similar air strikes that have been carried out this year by Myanmar’s armed forces.
The military government has in recent months augmented its air force with new drones acquired from China – which is now fully supporting the junta – as well as technical assistance from Russia.
That, coupled with the fact that Beijing has been putting pressure on rebels along its border with Myanmar to stop supplying weapons to opposition groups, means the military tables have turned and insurgents are having to give up many of the territorial gains they made over the past two years.
The attack on Monday targeted a township in the Sagaing region, where people had gathered on Thadingyut, a full moon festival, to hold a candlelight vigil.
It had been organised as a peaceful protest against the junta’s military conscription and an upcoming national election. It also called for the release of political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratically-elected leader who was deposed in the coup and jailed.
The Sagaing region has been a key battleground in the war, with large parts of it under the control of volunteer militias.
These groups, known as the People’s Defence Force (PDF), also run the local administration. An official in the local PDF told BBC Burmese that they had received information about a potential airborne attack during Monday’s gathering.
They tried to end the protest quickly, but the paramotors – as paragliders are known locally – reached the scene earlier than expected, he said.
It all happened in seven minutes, he said. He says the explosion injured his leg, but some people near him were killed.
Locals said it was hard to identify the bodies in the aftermath.
“Children were completely torn apart,” another woman who had helped to organise the event told AFP news agency. She was not at the scene but attended funerals on Tuesday, and added that they were still “collecting body parts”.
In a statement on Tuesday, Amnesty International said that the junta’s use of motorised paragliders to attack communities was part of a “disturbing trend”.
BBC Burmese recently reported that the junta were increasingly opting for paramotors amid a lack of aircraft and helicopters, as well as jet fuel.
International sanctions over the past few years have made it harder for Myanmar’s rulers to procure military equipment – though the recent influx of technology from countries like China and Russia seems to have helped turned the tide.
Joe Freeman, Amnesty International’s Myanmar researcher, said the attack “should serve as a gruesome wake-up call that civilians in Myanmar need urgent protection”.
He also called on Asean, the South East Asian regional bloc due to convene later this month, to “increase pressure on the junta and revise an approach that has failed the Myanmar people for almost five years”.
Myanmar is scheduled to hold general elections in December, the first vote since the 2021 coup. Critics, however, say the vote will not be free and fair and is aimed at trying to legitimise military rule. Many opposition parties have been banned, and voting is likely to take place in only about half the country, in the areas the military controls.
