Tragic Attack at Myanmar Festival Claims 24 Lives

A paramotor attack on a festival and protest in central Myanmar has killed at least 24 people and wounded 47 others, a spokesperson from the exiled National Unity Government told BBC Burmese.

Around 100 people had gathered at Chaung U township on Monday evening for the Thadingyut festival - a national holiday with Buddhist roots - when a motor-powered paraglider dropped two bombs over the crowd, a local official under the anti-junta People's Defence Force said.

The event was also a candlelight vigil protesting junta policies.

Myanmar has been in civil war since its military seized power in a 2021 coup. The UN estimates that the conflict has killed more than 5,000 civilians.

The People's Defence Force official told BBC Burmese that during the gathering on Monday, they received information about a potential airborne attack and tried to quickly wrap up their protest - but the paramotors reached the scene earlier than they expected.

They arrived and dropped the bomb within just seven minutes, he said.

Initial reports described horrifying scenes, with witnesses indicating that the destruction caused by the attacks made it difficult to identify the dead. One local organizer reported, Children were completely torn apart, while others spoke of collecting body parts from the ground.

In a statement, Amnesty International described the junta's use of motorised paragliders to attack civilians as part of a disturbing trend, exacerbated by international sanctions limiting military equipment procurement.

Joe Freeman, an Amnesty researcher, called the incident a gruesome wake-up call for urgent civilian protection and urged ASEAN to revise its approach toward the junta in light of the escalating violence.

The candlelight vigil was organized to protest various junta policies, including military conscription and the upcoming elections scheduled for December, which critics argue will not be free or fair.