Myanmar military strike kills 14 attending monastery retreat

An air strike by Myanmar's military on a Buddhist monastery in the central Sagaing region has killed 14 people who were taking part in a week-long meditation retreat, an opposition group and a resident say.

The attack is the latest in a series of frequent and deadly aerial strikes targeting armed anti-government forces and ethnic armed groups in the country.

Two weeks ago, an United Nations report said Myanmar’s military has increasingly used low-cost aircraft such as motorized paragliders and gyrocopters in escalating aerial attacks that kill civilians in its conflict with armed, anti-government groups.

The report by the UN-established Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, or IIMM, details a yearlong investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Myanmar’s military and affiliated militias, as well as the opposition armed groups.

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Myanmar’s military government did not immediately respond to either the UN probe. In the past, the military has said it only attacks legitimate targets of war, accusing the resistance forces of being terrorists.

The monastery attack occurred on Friday in Swel Le Oh village in Myaung township, about 75km west of Mandalay, the country's second largest city, according to Nway Oo, a spokesman for the Civil Defence and Security Organisation of Myaung Township, or CDSOM.

Nway Oo said 14 people, including three women, were killed and 20 others were wounded when a jet fighter dropped a bomb in the compound of the village's monastery.

A villager who spoke on condition of anonymity also confirmed the death toll to the Associated Press.

The villager said the jet fighter dropped two bombs 15 minutes apart, with the second bomb damaging a house near the monastery where more than 100 people were on a week-long retreat.

The villager, whose mother-in-law was killed in the air strike, said that people fled to a nearby community after cremating bodies of the victims.

The 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.