A paraglider dropped bombs on a crowded festival in Myanmar, killing at least 40 people, including children.
The attack occurred on Monday evening during the Thadingyut festival and a protest against Myanmar’s military government, the junta.
The location of the attack, Chaung U Township in the Sagaing region, has been a hotspot in Myanmar’s ongoing civil war.
Highlights
- A paraglider dropped two bombs on a crowded Thadingyut festival in Myanmar, killing at least 40 people, including children.
- The attack took place in Chaung U Township, Sagaing region, a known hotspot in Myanmar's ongoing civil war.
- Around 80 people were injured, with victims described as 'completely torn apart' by the explosions.
An attack on a festival in Myanmar killed 40 people and injured 80 more
Image credits: Getty Images
About 80 people were injured. The BBC reported that two bombs were dropped on the crowd using a motorized paraglider, a device worn by a single pilot.
Organizers said victims were “completely torn apart” by the explosions.
The junta has increasingly used paragliders in attacks as sanctions limit access to planes and helicopters.
Around 100 people had gathered for the event. The protests were calling for the release of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who spent years under house arrest.
She was Myanmar’s de facto leader under the National League for Democracy but was imprisoned after her ousting following a democratic election in 2021.
Image credits: Sirachai Arunrugstichai/Getty Images
A group of volunteer militias fighting the junta had received reports of an airborne attack. They tried to end the event and alerted the crowd, a third of whom were able to flee, but the paraglider arrived earlier than expected.
Two different accounts of the attack’s duration have emerged.
The Independent quoted a spokesperson for the exiled government, who stated that the attack lasted approximately seven minutes.
Al Jazeera, citing a report from the Thailand-based news outlet The Irrawaddy, reported that the attack occurred in two waves, first at 8:00 p.m. and then again at 11:00 p.m.
A single pilot dropped two bombs from a motorized paraglider on the crowd
Myanmar has been in a civil war since 2021, and the UN estimates that up to 40% of the population needs humanitarian assistance.
The civil war started after a military coup that removed the democratically elected leadership, and is now being fought between the military-led junta government, armed opposition groups, and ethnic armed organizations.
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
The UN estimates that more than 75,000 people have been killed and more than 3 million displaced.
Amnesty International condemned the attack on Tuesday, calling it a part of a “disturbing trend” of violence against civilians.
“The sickening reports emerging from the ground in central Myanmar following a nighttime attack late on Monday should serve as a gruesome wake-up call that civilians in Myanmar need urgent protection,” a statement read.
Myanmar has been in a civil war since a military coup removed the government in 2021
“This would be the latest in a long line of attacks that stretch back almost five years to the start of the 2021 military coup.
“As the military attempts to solidify power with a stage-managed election later this year, it is intensifying an already brutal campaign against pockets of resistance.”
Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher Joe Freeman further called for more action from international groups.
“[The Association of Southeast Asian Nations] must increase pressure on the junta and revise an approach that has failed the Myanmar people for almost five years, since the coup deposed the country’s democratically elected government,” he said.
“The UN Security Council should also refer the situation in Myanmar as a whole to the International Criminal Court.”