Yangon (Myanmar): An airstrike on Friday by Myanmar’s military on a Buddhist monastery in the country’s central Sagaing region killed 14 people who were taking part in a week-long mediation retreat, an Opposition group and a resident.
It is the latest attack in a series of deadly aerial strikes targeting armed pro-democracy forces and ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, which often cause civilian casualties, AP reported.
The attack took place on Friday morning in Swel Le Oh village in Myaung township, about 75 kilometres (45 miles) west of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, a spokesperson for the Civil Defence and Security Organisation of Myaung Township said.
The 14 victims included three women, while 20 others were wounded when a jet fighter dropped a bomb in the compound of the monastery.
A second bomb landed 15 minutes later, damaging a house near the monastery where more than 100 people were on a week-long retreat during Buddhist Lent, a local villager told AP.
The villager, who lost a relative in the airstrike, said that people fled to a nearby community.
According to investigators of United Nations Human Rights Council, Myanmarese military has carried out deliberate attacks on residential buildings, schools and camps for displaced people, arbitrary detention, torture and sexual violence.
The findings come in the annual report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), covering July 2025 to June 2026, published last Tuesday.
“One of the areas that we’re concentrating on is, because of the suffering that’s happening in Myanmar, are the airstrikes (against communities) that are occurring… We’re looking at the command structure and how the orders would be given for such airstrikes,” the annual report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), covering July 2025 to June 2026, stated.
“In particular, there are many airstrikes targeting and hitting schools. Children are often the victims of these airstrikes, and also hospitals. So our team is collecting that evidence of where it has occurred, the kind of munitions that are used.”
The military overthrew the civilian government and seized power in February 2021, arresting top leaders including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Nationwide protests erupted, followed by armed resistance movements that now control large swathes of the fractured country.