Hundreds of people gathered in Chaung U township in central Myanmar on Monday evening to celebrate the Thadingyut full moon festival and protest against the military junta. The peaceful event turned into a scene of horror when the Myanmar military dropped bombs from motorized paragliders on the crowd. More than 40 people, including children, were killed, and around 80 others were wounded. Survivors described chaotic scenes as warnings allowed some to flee, but many were caught in the sudden, deadly attack. Body parts and debris littered the ground as locals rushed to help the injured.
Multiple reports confirm the Myanmar military used motorized paragliders to drop bombs on the gathered crowd during the festival and candlelight vigil, with casualty figures ranging between 24 and 40 dead and dozens wounded. Eyewitnesses recounted the terror, including the sight of children killed instantly and the difficulty in identifying victims due to the severity of the blast. Funerals for the victims began soon after, with mourners overwhelmed by the scale of loss.
This latest attack highlights an intensifying campaign by the Myanmar military against civilian gatherings and pockets of resistance amid an ongoing civil conflict that erupted after the military seized power in a 2021 coup. Human rights watchdogs have called the strike a “gruesome wake-up call” for the urgent protection of Myanmar’s civilians, urging stronger international and regional action, particularly from ASEAN. Amnesty International warned that the junta is exploiting reduced global scrutiny to escalate war crimes with impunity.
The use of paramotors for dropping mortar rounds and bombs on civilian protests and events has become alarmingly frequent in Myanmar, further putting non-combatants at severe risk. The UN has documented a disturbing pattern of such aerial attacks throughout 2024 and 2025, including earlier bombings near churches and schools. The civilian death toll since the coup now exceeds 5,000 according to UN estimates, underscoring the urgent need for concerted international intervention to protect vulnerable populations.
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