1988: Gunfire was heard in Rangoon after the army seized power and ordered a curfew that was defied by student protesters. Shooting was also heard by the wife of opposition leader General Tin Oo. An aide to another opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, also reported hearing shots. Tin Oo lives near the headquarters of Radio Rangoon and Rangoon University, which has been at the centre of months of anti-government protests. The army announced it was seizing power, imposing a curfew on Rangoon and banning demonstrations. Students immediately defied the orders. In a series of broadcasts interspersed with martial music, the army said it was taking over to “halt deteriorating conditions all over the country and for the sake and interest of the people.” A diplomat said large numbers of people were in the streets in defiance of the curfew and the ban on gatherings.
Other major events on September 18
1932 King Bin Saud unifies the dual kingdom of the Hejaz and Najd under the name Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
1947 The US National Security Act, unifying the Navy, Army and newly formed Air Force goes into effect.
1955 Hurricane Hilda strikes in the central and northern Gulf Coast area of Mexico killing 166 people.
1961 UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold dies in a mysterious plane crash in Africa.
1973 East Germany, West Germany and the Bahamas are admitted to United Nations.
1982 Hundreds of Palestinians are massacred at the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.
1986 French military attache Colonel Christian Goutierre is shot dead in east Beirut.
1988 Burma’s military commander San Maung overthrows Burma’s civilian President Maung Maung in coup.
1996 lija Izetbegovic becomes the head of a peacetime collective presidency.
1997 Suspected militants attacks a tourist bus in downtown Cairo, Egypt, killing 10 people.
2005 Afghans cast their ballots in the country’s first parliamentary election in over 30 years.
2008 Somchai Wongsawat is inaugurated as Thailand’s prime minister.
2013 A double-decker bus collides with a passenger train in Ottawa, Canada, ripping off the front of the bus and killing six people.
2015 Taliban gunmen attack Pakistan air force base in Badaber near Peshawar, killing 42 people.
