YANGON, Aug 22: A Myanmar military airstrike on a monastery where civilians had gathered for a meditation retreat marking Buddhist Lent killed 14 people, according to two rebel fighters who witnessed the aftermath.
Myanmar has been engulfed in civil war since the military staged a coup in 2021, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Over the past five years, more than 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed across all sides as the military battles an array of pro-democracy and ethnic minority rebel groups.
The airstrike hit a monastery hall at around 9:00 am (0230 GMT) on Friday in Myaung Township in the central Sagaing region, killing 11 men and three women, according to Nway Oo Myaung, a pro-democracy rebel who helped recover the bodies.
“Older people had entered the meditation centre for three months” to mark the period of Buddhist Lent, which roughly coincides with Myanmar’s rainy season, he said on Friday.
“The ages of those who were killed were between 50 and 70,” Nway Oo Myaung added. “It wasn’t a mistaken target. They intentionally attacked a monastery.”
Documentary Review: No Monastery, No Village
It was not immediately possible to contact Myanmar’s military for comment.
A second local opposition fighter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Saturday that five of the victims were from his village, while the other nine were from neighboring villages.
“While we were trying to rescue people, the aircraft came to bomb a second time,” he said.
Strikes from above
Myanmar’s military frequently relies on Chinese- and Russian-supplied aircraft to conduct airstrikes against rebel groups, analysts say.
The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), a UN investigative body, last week published a report accusing the military of carrying out “indiscriminate and intentional aerial attacks against civilians.”
Public buildings, particularly monasteries and schools, are frequently reported to have been targeted in airstrikes.
Myanmar’s government dismissed the IIMM report as “one-sided allegations against Myanmar’s security forces based on unverifiable and inaccurate information.”
Conflict monitoring group ACLED said in a report last month that “the military’s ongoing terror strategy includes a focus on civilian infrastructure and social gatherings, such as weddings and religious festivals, to maximize psychological impact.”
After five years of military rule, Myanmar held elections around the beginning of 2026, presenting them as a return to normality.
The IIMM report said it had “observed a notable escalation in aerial attacks in the months preceding the elections.”
Democracy watchdogs dismissed the elections as a charade aimed at rebranding military rule, noting that Suu Kyi was excluded, her party was sidelined and dissenters were subjected to prison sentences.
The elections resulted in coup leader Min Aung Hlaing becoming civilian president in April, while handing over the position of armed forces chief to a key aide.
Min Aung Hlaing is now leading a diplomatic campaign aimed at ending Myanmar’s post-coup isolation and securing greater international recognition.
India, China, Laos and Thailand have openly embraced him through visits to their capitals, drawing criticism from campaigners who say the countries have granted him undue legitimacy.
This week, Min Aung Hlaing visited Russia and Belarus, which have remained steadfast allies of Myanmar since the coup.
Myanmar’s military has made battlefield gains in recent months after securing China-backed truces with some of the country’s most powerful armed groups.
