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Paraglider Attack at Myanmar Buddhist Festival Leaves at Least 24 Dead
Paraglider Attack at Myanmar Buddhist Festival Leaves at Least 24 Dead
At least 24 people have been killed and 47 injured in a paramotor attack on a festival and protest in central Myanmar, a spokesperson from the expatriated National Unity Government has told BBC Burmese.
Myanmar festival attack, in the township of Chaung U on Monday evening, targeted people gathered to mark the Thadingyut festival, a national holiday that involves Buddhist rituals. They had also come to join a candlelight vigil to protest the policies of Myanmar’s military junta, a local official from the anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF) told BBC Burmese.
A motor-powered paraglider dropped two paraglider bomb Myanmar on the crowd, according to the PDF official, who said local officials had been warned of the possibility of an airborne attack. People had been ordered to disperse, but the paramotors arrived ahead of schedule, he said.
“They came and dropped the bomb within just seven minutes,” he said. “When the first bomb fell, I hit the ground but it hit my lower knee. People beside me were killed on the spot.”
Locals described Myanmar bombing news, with the Buddhist festival blast making it hard to identify victims. “Children were torn into pieces,” a woman who helped organise the event told BBC Burmese. She was not present at the scene of the attack, but went to the funerals on Tuesday. Authorities were still collecting body parts from the ground, she said.
In a statement to the BBC, the human rights organisation said the military “must be held to account” for the attack.
BBC Burmese has reported that the military has increasingly turned to Myanmar violence 2025, which have been used against resistance forces, civilians and ethnic armed organisations since the military coup. A lack of aircraft and helicopters has been exacerbated by international sanctions that cut off Myanmar’s military from most military equipment.
Joe Freeman, a Myanmar researcher at Amnesty International, said Myanmar terrorist attack was a “gruesome wake-up call” that showed civilians “urgently need more protection”. He also called for the ASEAN bloc, which will hold a meeting later this month, to “redouble pressure on the junta and reconsider policies that have failed the people of Myanmar for close to five years”.
