Myanmar military strike kills 14 people at a Buddhist monastery, opposition group says

An airstrike on Friday by Myanmar’s military on a Buddhist monastery in Myanmar’s central Sagaing region killed 14 people who were taking part in a weeklong meditation retreat, an opposition group and a resident said. The Los Angeles Times and Al Jazeera reported that the attack occurred in Swel Le Oh village in Myaung township, about 45 miles west of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, according to Nway Oo, a spokesperson for the Civil Defense and Security Organization of Myaung Township, or CDSOM.

Nway Oo said that 14 people, including three women, were killed and 20 others were wounded when a fighter jet dropped a bomb in the compound of the village’s monastery. A local resident who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the death toll to Sbs News. The villager said that the fighter jet dropped two bombs 15 minutes apart, with the second bomb damaging a house near the monastery where more than 100 people were on a weeklong retreat during Buddhist Lent. The villager, whose mother-in-law was killed in the airstrike, said that people fled to a nearby community after cremating bodies of the victims.

Media additions

BBC’s Burmese-Language service and Myanmar’s media outlets, including Myanmar Now, reported the death toll at between 10 and 14. They also posted photos and videos showing what they said was the aftermath of the strike, with images of bodies reported Vartha Bharati. The military didn’t immediately comment. In the past, the army has said that it only attacks legitimate targets of war, accusing the resistance forces of being terrorists.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, triggering a civil war. As Seoul Economic Daily noted, the war has killed more than 100,000 people. After peaceful demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms, and large parts of the country are embroiled in conflict.

The military has increasingly used airstrikes to counter opposition forces, including the armed People’s Defense Forces in Sagaing region, a stronghold of armed resistance. The resistance has no effective defense against air attacks. The monastery attack comes a week after the U.N.-established Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, or IIMM, said that it observed a notable escalation in aerial attacks by the military in the months preceding the elections held in December and January, and that they have continued unabated afterward. Myanmar’s foreign ministry rejected the IIMM report on Sunday, saying that limited airstrikes and counterterrorism operations solely aim at military targets and were carried out in response to insurgents and terrorist groups in accordance with the rules of engagement, and that the security forces exercise maximum restraint to avoid civilian harm.

What to Watch Next

• Pending official statements from the Myanmar military regarding the Swel Le Oh village monastery strike.
• Further investigations by the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar into escalating aerial tactics and alleged war crimes.
• Developments surrounding the military government's push to secure strategic economic zones, such as the Dawei project, amid ongoing regional troop deployments and displacement.

For broader international updates, consult our World coverage.