The U.N. condemned paramotor attacks that killed at least 40 people at a ceremony and sit-in protest in Bonto village of Chaung-U Township in Sagaing Region on Monday, which was the end of Buddhist lent called the full moon day of Thadingyut in Myanmar.
“This tragic incident, if confirmed, would add to a disturbing pattern of indiscriminate attacks affecting civilians across the country,” Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the U.N. Secretary-General, told the media on Oct. 8.
He added that indiscriminate airstrikes carried out by the Myanmar military are unacceptable, calling for both regime and resistance forces to follow international humanitarian law and human rights principles.
“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,” Joe Freeman, the Amnesty International Myanmar researcher, wrote in a press release on Oct. 7.
Amnesty International called the attack a “wake-up call” and that civilians in Myanmar need urgent protection from the international community.
“We urge the military regime to cease its violence and bombing civilians, release all unjustly detained prisoners, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and begin genuine dialogue with opposition groups,” an unnamed spokesperson from the U.S. State Department told Reuters.
The U.K., Canadian, and Australian embassies in Myanmar shared condolences online for the victims and condemned the attack in coordinated statements on Oct. 10.
The National Unity Government (NUG) Ministry of Human Rights called the attack a “war crime” and vowed to hold the culprits in the military accountable.
Its Spring Development Bank (SDB) launched a crowdfunding campaign to provide assistance to injured survivors of the attack in Chaung-U on Oct. 9.
At least 1,849 civilians have been killed by a total of 2,321 airstrikes on territory controlled by resistance forces in Myanmar since January, according to DVB data.
