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A military strike killed over 40 people, including children, during the Thadingyut festival in Myanmar, prompting Amnesty International to urge urgent protection for civilians
The military dropped bombs on Monday evening when hundreds of people gathered in central Myanmar’s Chaung U township for the Thadingyut full moon festival. (Image/AP)
A military strike during a festival event in Myanmar killed 40 people, including children, AFP reported.
The military dropped bombs on Monday evening when hundreds of people gathered in central Myanmar’s Chaung U township for the Thadingyut full moon festival.
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AFP quoted a woman, who requested anonymity for security reasons, as saying people were gathering for the festival and an anti-junta demonstration at around 7 pm when the bombs killed more than 40 people and wounded about 80 others.
“The committee alerted people and one-third of the crowd managed to flee. But immediately, one motor-powered paraglider flew right over the crowd. Children were completely torn apart,” she said.
“As of this morning, we were still collecting body parts from the ground — pieces of flesh, limbs, parts of bodies that were blown apart,” she added.
Another witness said: “While I was saying to people ‘please don’t run’, the paramotor dropped two bombs. Two of my comrades were killed just in front of me. There were even more who died in front of me.”
He added that he attended funerals on Tuesday for nine friends who were killed.
Following the incident, human rights watchdog Amnesty International said in a statement that the nighttime attack “should serve as a gruesome wake-up call that civilians in Myanmar need urgent protection”.
It further said the attack showed the military was “intensifying an already brutal campaign against pockets of resistance”.
“The international community may have forgotten about the conflict in Myanmar, but the Myanmar military is taking advantage of reduced scrutiny to carry out war crimes with impunity,” said Joe Freeman, Amnesty’s Myanmar researcher.
AFP quoted him as urging Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc to increase pressure on the Myanmar junta as ASEAN officials prepare for a meeting later this month.
Myanmar (Burma)
October 08, 2025, 05:16 IST
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