Protesters hold up posters of Aung San Suu Kyi at a demonstration in Mandalay, Myanmar, on February 28, 2021, four weeks after the military deposed her National League for Democracy government a day before its leaders and MPs were due to be sworn in. The junta has since resorted to increasing violence to quash opposition to its rule. File Photo by Xiao Long/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 8 (UPI) -- At least 24 protesters in Myanmar were killed and 47 injured after they were bombed from the air as they participated in a demonstration against the military government in a town in the country's central Sagaing region.
Regime forces launched the attack on the gathering of about 100 people from motorized paragliders over the town of Chaung-U, 200 miles northwest of the capital, Naypyidaw, according to the exiled National Unity Government formed after Aung San Suu Kyi's administration was ousted in a 2021 military coup.
The incident occurred Monday night as the Southeast Asian nation celebrated the full-moon phase of its lunar Lighting Festival, which, according to Buddhist belief, marks the descent to earth of the Buddha.
The quasi self-governing region was targeted because it is a center of resistance to the ruling military junta, with People's Defence Force volunteer militias running the local administration.
