Attack on monastery in Myanmar kills at least 23, witnesses say

YANGON - At least 23 people have been confirmed dead, including four children, after an attack on a monastery in Myanmar's Sagaing region, witnesses said.

The monastery in the village of Lintalu was hit in the early hours of July 11, said Mr Hlaing Bwa, head of the Sagaing District People’s Administration, a pro-democracy group that administers parts of the central region.

He and a local resident described the attack as an air strike by the State Administration Council, Myanmar’s ruling military junta.

The monastery housed around 200 people displaced by nearby fighting between the army and pro-democracy forces, Mr Hlaing Bwa told Reuters. 

Myanmar has been gripped by conflict since the military suppressed protests against a 2021 coup that unseated an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.     

Days after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Sagaing on March 28, the government

announced a temporary ceasefire

to provide humanitarian relief and help rebuild the region, after similar moves from armed anti-junta groups.  

However, the military has continued to launch air strikes and artillery attacks on rebel-controlled areas, including those already destroyed by the quake, which killed almost 3,700 people.   

In May, the civilian National Unity Government accused the junta of

killing at least 17 students in an air strike

that hit a school in the town of Depayin, also in Sagaing and close to the epicentre of the earthquake.  

Lintalu resident Phoe Kaine, who lives close to the monastery, told Reuters that as well as the 23 confirmed dead, many more were injured in the attack. 

“We are evacuating patients in need of immediate medical attention as part of our ongoing rescue and relief efforts.” REUTERS