Crystal Dike
At least 40 people, including children, were killed and about 80 others injured when motorised paragliders dropped bombs on a crowd gathered for a Buddhist festival and anti-junta protest in central Myanmar, according to local officials and rights groups.
The attack took place on Monday evening in Chaung-U Township, Sagaing Region, as about 100 people assembled for a candlelight vigil marking the Thadingyut full moon festival. The gathering, which also served as a peaceful protest, called for the release of political prisoners, an end to forced military conscription, and resistance to the junta’s planned December elections.
Witnesses and local members of the People’s Defence Force (PDF) said the assault occurred in two waves. The first explosion struck around 8 p.m., killing and maiming dozens, followed by a second strike three hours later. Organisers said they had received warnings of a possible airborne attack and tried to end the event early, but the paragliders arrived before they could disperse the crowd.
“It all happened in minutes,” a local PDF official told BBC Burmese. “We tried to evacuate, but the paramotors reached us too soon.”
Residents described scenes of devastation, saying many bodies were unrecognisable. “Children were completely torn apart,” one organiser told AFP. Survivors said the paragliders made a loud, chainsaw-like sound as they approached before dropping the explosives.
Amnesty International condemned the strike as part of a “disturbing trend” of paramotor attacks by the military targeting civilians. The organisation said evidence indicates the use of 120 mm mortar rounds — a weapon typically associated with indiscriminate attacks.
Joe Freeman, Amnesty’s Myanmar researcher, said the incident “should serve as a gruesome wake-up call that civilians in Myanmar need urgent protection.” He called on ASEAN and the United Nations to increase pressure on the junta and push for accountability. Amnesty also urged the UN Security Council to refer the Myanmar situation to the International Criminal Court.
The Myanmar military has not commented on the incident. Analysts say the junta has increasingly relied on paragliders and drones amid shortages of conventional aircraft and helicopters, caused by international sanctions.
Sagaing Region has been one of the main centres of resistance since the army seized power in a 2021 coup, ousting Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government. Large parts of the region are under the control of local militias aligned with the PDF.
The Chaung-U attack is one of the deadliest aerial strikes on civilians this year and underscores the junta’s escalating campaign to regain territory from anti-government forces ahead of the December general elections, which observers say will be neither free nor fair.
Thousands have been killed and millions displaced since the coup, as Myanmar’s military intensifies its crackdown on dissent across the country.