18 killed in Myanmar on bloodiest day of protests

Myanmar police fired on protesters on Sunday in the bloodiest day of weeks of demonstrations against a military coup and at least 18 people were killed and several wounded, political and medical sources and media said, reports Reuters.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the army seized power and detained elected government leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership on Feb 1, alleging fraud in a November election her party won in a landslide.

The coup, which brought a halt to tentative steps towards democracy after nearly 50 years of military rule, has drawn hundreds of thousands onto the streets and the condemnation of Western countries.

"Myanmar is like a battlefield," the Buddhist-majority nation's first Catholic cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, said on Twitter.

Police were out in force early and opened fire in different parts of the biggest city of Yangon after stun grenades, tear gas and shots in the air failed to break up crowds. Soldiers also reinforced police.