Myanmar Air Strikes Kill 14 Elderly at Sagaing Monastery, Hitting Buddhist Lent Retreat
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 22
Myanmar Air Strikes Kill 14 Elderly at Sagaing Monastery, Hitting Buddhist Lent Retreat
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 22
Summary
Fourteen people aged 50 to 70 were killed when Myanmar military aircraft struck a monastery twice around 09:00 local time Friday in Myaung township, Sagaing, according to opposition fighters and a rescue worker.
The victims — 11 men and three women — had gathered for a meditation retreat marking Buddhist Lent, and several monks were injured in the attack on the site about 70 km west of Mandalay.
Rescuers said the aircraft returned for a second bombing while survivors were being searched for, underscoring the danger after the initial strike.
Myanmar's military has not commented; it has previously said it targets only legitimate sites, though it is often accused of hitting public buildings.
Sagaing is a resistance stronghold, and the strike fits a wider pattern of air attacks in the civil war that followed the military's 2021 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi.