At least 24 people were killed and 47 others wounded while protesting Myanmar’s military government after a motorised paraglider dropped two bombs on the crowd, a spokesperson for the government-in-exile has 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 now 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 governmet, 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 told BBC Burmese that 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 …
