YANGON: A Myanmar military airstrike on a monastery where civilians were gathered for a meditation retreat marking Buddhist Lent killed 14 people, two rebel fighters who witnessed the aftermath said.
The Friday (Aug 21) attack hit a monastery hall around 9am in Myaung township of central Sagaing region, killing 11 men and three women, Nway Oo Myaung, a pro-democracy rebel who helped clear bodies, said on Friday.
“Since Buddhist Lent was being marked … older people had entered the meditation centre for three months,” he said.
“Those who were killed, their ages were between 50 and 70,” he added. “It wasn’t a mistaken target, they intentionally attacked a monastery.”
A second local opposition fighter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Saturday: “Five dead people were from our village and the other nine were from other villages.”
“While we were trying to rescue people, the aircraft came to bomb a second time,” he said.
It was not immediately possible to contact the Myanmar military for comment.
Myanmar’s military sparked a civil war when it snatched power in a 2021 coup, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
UN investigators last week published a report accusing the military of “indiscriminate and intentional aerial attacks against civilians”.