MYAUNG: Fourteen people, including three women, were killed and 20 others injured after Myanmar’s military carried out an air strike on a Buddhist monastery in the central Sagaing region, according to an opposition group and a local resident.
The victims were attending a weeklong meditation retreat at the monastery in Swel Le Oh village in Myaung township, around 75km west of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city.
Nway Oo, a spokesperson for the Civil Defence and Security Organisation of Myaung Township (CDSOM), said a fighter jet dropped a bomb inside the monastery compound.
A villager, whose mother-in-law was among those killed, said the aircraft dropped two bombs about 15 minutes apart. The second explosion damaged a house near the monastery.
More than 100 people were attending the weeklong retreat during Buddhist Lent when the attack took place, the villager said.
Residents later fled to a nearby community after cremating the victims’ bodies.
The incident is the latest in a series of deadly air strikes carried out by Myanmar’s military against armed pro-democracy groups and ethnic armed organisations, attacks that have frequently resulted in civilian casualties.
UN mechanism reports rise in air strikes
The strike came a week after the UN-established Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) said it had observed a “notable escalation” in military air strikes in the months leading up to elections held in December and January.
The mechanism said the attacks had continued “unabated” since the elections.
Myanmar’s foreign ministry rejected the findings, saying “limited airstrikes” and counterterrorism operations were directed solely at military targets and carried out against insurgent and terrorist groups in accordance with rules of engagement.
The ministry said security forces exercised maximum restraint to prevent civilian casualties.
Myanmar conflict enters sixth year
Myanmar has been embroiled in conflict since the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, triggering a civil war.
After security forces violently suppressed widespread peaceful demonstrations, many opponents of military rule took up arms. Fighting continues across large parts of the country.
The military has increasingly relied on air strikes against opposition forces, including the armed People’s Defence Forces operating in Sagaing, a major stronghold of resistance.
Resistance groups have limited means of defending themselves against aerial attacks.
(With AP inputs)
