After four weeks of protests, the military in Burma opened fire on demonstrators in several cities Sunday, killing at least 18 people, the United Nations said, in the most vicious effort yet to extinguish the unrest roiling the nation.
The forceful response of the military signaled a new toughness after a month in which thousands have turned out regularly to protest a Feb. 1 coup. The demonstrations and civil disobedience movement have been the biggest tests yet of a military notorious for its brutality after having crushed democracy movements in 1988 and 2007 by shooting peaceful protesters.
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Videos and photographs captured images of bodies in the street and people running from the police as tear gas and smoke filled the air. The sheer ferocity of Sunday's crackdown -- security forces fired into crowds of unarmed protesters and rounded up groups of demonstrators before marches could begin -- drew sharp rebukes internationally.
"We strongly condemn the escalating violence against protests in Myanmar and call on the military to immediately halt the use of force against peaceful protesters," said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson with the U.N. human rights office.
Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that military authorities adopted in 1989. Some nations, such as the United States and Britain, have refused to adopt the name change.
In the southern city of Dawei, police opened fire on a crowd of hundreds, witnesses said. At least three people were killed and more than 50 wounded, said Dr. Tun Min, who was treating the injured at a hospital. A second doctor, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, confirmed those numbers.
Doctors in Mandalay confirmed three fatal shootings there, and killings also took place in Rangoon and the city of Mawlamyine. The U.N. statement said it had reports of deaths "as a result of live ammunition fired into crowds" in Rangoon, Mandalay and Dawei as well as in the cities of Myeik, Bago and Pokokku.
It was the largest single-day toll since the protests began after the Feb. 1 coup, which ousted the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's most popular politician. Before Sunday, just three deaths at the hands of the security forces had been widely reported, though two other deaths recently came to light in interviews with bereaved family members.
The Tatmadaw, as Burma's military is known, has led the country for most of the past 60 years. But over the past decade, it yielded some power to civilian leaders before seizing control again in the coup.
Until Sunday, the junta led by Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing had been comparatively restrained in its response to the protests and organized civil disobedience that have swept the nation. But as the demonstrations, marches and work stoppages have continued, fear of another bloody, full-scale crackdown has been ever-present.
In Mandalay, Burma's second largest city, one protester, Maung Maung Oo, died after being shot in the head through his motorcycle helmet as he was fleeing police officers and soldiers. Two others were shot and wounded.
Si Thu, a doctor and a protester, said he and the three victims were among a group of about 50 who were trying to escape police officers and soldiers, who broke up their planned protest before it could start.
"I don't know where the bullet came from, but the man was shot in the forehead and went down," Si Thu said in an interview. A video of the scene posted on Twitter showed several men carrying the victim to an ambulance as blood from his wound dripped onto the ground.
Minutes after the ambulance left, an army truck stopped at the end of the street, and soldiers opened fire on the group, Si Thu said. That was when the other two men were wounded, one in the chest and one in the arm.
Maung Maung Oo was taken to the Byamaso Social Association Hospital, where he died, said Zar Ni, a doctor there. Lei Lei, another doctor at the hospital, said a second protester also died there from a gunshot wound.
Later, after protesters in Mandalay had largely dispersed, a woman was shot in the head and killed as police and soldiers cleared barricades and fired at people in the streets, apparently at random, a witness said. Zar Ni said the woman, whose name was not released, was dead on arrival at the Byamaso hospital.