Dozens killed in Myanmar after armed paraglider attack: Reports | Politics News

Amnesty Worldwide says the army launched a paraglider assault on a nighttime civilian gathering.

Greater than 20 folks had been killed in central Myanmar after the army launched motorised paraglider assaults throughout an antigovernment candlelight vigil, in accordance with Amnesty Worldwide and media stories.

The assaults hit a village in Myanmar’s Sagaing Area twice on Monday evening as group members gathered to mark a Buddhist competition and name for the discharge of political prisoners, amongst different calls for, the stories stated.

“This may be the newest in a protracted line of assaults that stretch again virtually 5 years to the beginning of the 2021 army coup,” stated Amnesty Worldwide Myanmar Researcher Joe Freeman.

“Because the army makes an attempt to solidify energy with a stage-managed election later this yr, it’s intensifying an already brutal marketing campaign in opposition to pockets of resistance,” he stated.

The assaults on Chaung-U Township got here in two waves at 8pm (13:30 GMT) after which once more at 11pm (16:30 GMT), killing between 20 and 32 folks and injuring dozens extra, in accordance with The Irrawaddy, an unbiased information outlet primarily based in Thailand.

The official demise toll has not been confirmed, however the usage of motorised paragliders is a recognized tactic from Myanmar’s army to drop munitions on civilian areas, in accordance with the UN Human Rights Workplace.

Myanmar has been torn by civil battle since 2021 between the military-led authorities, armed opposition teams, and ethnic armed organisations following a army coup that eliminated a democratically elected management.

The battle has killed greater than 75,000 folks and displaced greater than 3 million, in accordance with UN estimates.

The army has often attacked ethnic minority civilians or communities like Chaung-U Township which might be close to strongholds of armed teams, in accordance with rights teams.

A 2024 BBC investigation estimated that the army solely managed about 20 p.c of the nation, whereas armed opposition and ethnic armed teams managed about 40 p.c of Myanmar’s territory, with the remainder territory contested by the varied forces.

The army authorities lifted a long-running state of emergency in July and called for elections on the finish of the yr, however critics, like the federal government of Japan, say a peace course of is first wanted earlier than Myanmar can restore a “democratic political system”.

Amnesty Worldwide’s Freeman referred to as for extra motion from worldwide teams just like the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the UN.

“[ASEAN] should enhance strain on the junta and revise an strategy that has failed the Myanmar folks for nearly 5 years, for the reason that coup deposed the nation’s democratically elected authorities,” he stated. “The UN Safety Council also needs to refer the state of affairs in Myanmar as a complete to the Worldwide Prison Court docket.”