Myanmar military strike kills 14 at monastery: rebels

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.

The attack occurred at 9am 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.

In the past, the army has said that it only attacks legitimate targets of war, accusing the resistance forces of being terrorists.