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 2021, when the army seized power, triggering 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.
The township that was attacked on Monday is in the Sagaing region, which has been a key battleground in the war. Large parts of it are under the control of volunteer militias established after the coup to fight the military government, or junta.
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 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.
International sanctions over the past few years have made it harder for Myanmar’s rulers to procure military equipment.
However, advanced drones and military technology supplied by China and Russia have given the junta a new edge on the battlefield, according to analysts.
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”.
Monday’s candlelight vigil had been organised as a peaceful protest against the junta’s military conscription and the upcoming national election. They were also calling for the release of political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratically-elected leader who was deposed in the coup and jailed.
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.