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It is also the latest instance of Myanmar’s well-armed military using paramotors as part of its widening range of aerial weaponry, including aircraft and drones, deployed in an expanding civil war.
A spokesperson for Myanmar’s junta did not respond to calls seeking comment. The military has previously rejected accusations that it targets civilians.
The Southeast Asian nation has been gripped by protests and a nationwide armed rebellion since 2021 following the military’s ouster of an elected civilian government.
The attack at Sagaing’s Chaung-U township took place just before 8 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. ET) on Monday as local residents gathered in a field, said the eyewitness and a spokesman for a local anti-junta armed resistance group.
“The military has used paramotors to bomb this area approximately six times before this latest incident,” Ko Thant, an information officer for the Chaung-U Township People’s Defence Force, told Reuters.
The junta’s first recorded use of paramotors, which can seat up to three soldiers to drop bombs or fire at targets, was in December 2024 and they have since been deployed more widely, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
The military also used paramotors to carry out attacks in parts of Myanmar hit by a deadly earthquake in March, the United Nations said in April.
A 30-year-old protester was taking part in a gathering against Myanmar’s ruling junta on a festival day in the central region of Sagaing on Monday when he heard the distinctive noise of fan blades cutting through the air.
Minutes later, explosives were dropped by a motorised paraglider, also known as a paramotor.
“I was thrown away,” said the protester, asking not to be named for fear of retribution from the junta.
“Initially, I thought the whole lower part of my body had been severed. I touched it and I realized the legs are still there.”