Myanmar air strike kills 14 praying at monastery, rebel witnesses say

Myanmar air strike kills 14 praying at monastery, rebel witnesses say Public buildings, most often monasteries and schools, are frequently the sites of reported air strikes according to a UN report from last week A Myanmar military air strike 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. Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military staged a 2021 coup 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 rebels. The Friday air strike hit a monastery hall around 9.00am in Myaung township of central Sagaing region, killing 11 men and three women, according to Nway Oo Myaung, a pro-democracy rebel who helped clear 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. “Those who were killed, their ages were between 50 and 70,” Nway Oo Myaung added. “It wasn’t a mistaken target, they intentionally attacked a monastery.”