At Least 24 Dead and 50 Injured After Paraglider Drops Bombs on Crowd at Buddhist Festival

At least 24 people have been killed and nearly 50 have been injured after two bombs were dropped on a crowd in Myanmar.

The attack happened on Monday, Oct. 6, as around 100 people gathered in Chang U township for a national holiday, the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported. The BBC, citing a spokesperson for the government-in-exile to BBC Burmese, reported that 47 people were wounded in the attacks, which allegedly used army motorized paragliders.

Myanmar has been in a state of conflict for several years following a military coup in 2021. The Sagaing region, where the attacks took place, remains under the control of anti-government volunteer militias known as the People’s Defence Force (PDF), per the BBC.

A PDF official told BBC Burmese that the organization was informed of a “potential airborne attack” during the gathering on Monday. They tried to end the protest quickly, but the motorized paraglider emerged minutes later.

The official said the attacks all happened in seven minutes and his leg was injured in the explosion.

A woman who helped organize the event told the AFP news agency, per the BBC, “Children were completely torn apart,” adding that authorities were still “collecting body parts.”

Funerals for the victims took place on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Several bodies, however, have still not been identified in the attack, according to the BBC.

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Amnesty International‘s Myanmar Researcher Joe Freeman called the latest attacks a “disturbing trend” in the region, adding that it is “a gruesome wake-up call that civilians in Myanmar need urgent protection.” 

“The Myanmar military is taking advantage of reduced scrutiny to carry out war crimes with impunity,” Freeman said in a statement. “It continues to kill civilians on a daily basis, using methods such as motorized paragliders, a disturbing trend … This would be the latest in a long line of attacks that stretch back almost five years to the start of the 2021 military coup.”

Freeman called for the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to “increase pressure” on the junta on stop these alleged violent attacks on civilians in the region.

“As the military attempts to solidify power with a stage-managed election later this year, it is intensifying an already brutal campaign against pockets of resistance,” Freeman said. “…The UN Security Council should also refer the situation in Myanmar as a whole to the International Criminal Court.”

PEOPLE has reached out to the United Nations Human Rights Council for comment.