A Myanmar military airstrike struck a Buddhist monastery in Swel Le Oh village, Myaung township, Sagaing region around 9:00 a.m. local time on August 21, killing 14 people and injuring about 20 others during a weeklong meditation retreat for Buddhist Lent [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

The victims, aged between 50 and 70, were civilians attending the retreat. Eleven men and three women died, with at least five victims from one village and the rest from neighboring areas [1, 2, 6, 7, 8]. More than 100 people had gathered at the monastery to mark the Buddhist Lent period [3, 4, 5].

Witnesses and opposition fighters said a military fighter jet dropped two bombs roughly 15 minutes apart. The first bomb struck the main monastery hall, and the second hit a nearby house, causing additional casualties while rescuers were assisting survivors. An opposition fighter said, "While we were trying to rescue people, the aircraft came to bomb a second time" [1, 2, 6, 7, 8].

Local pro-democracy groups accused the military of deliberately targeting the monastery. Nway Oo Myaung, a rebel spokesperson, said, "Those who were killed, their ages were between 50 and 70. It wasn’t a mistaken target, they intentionally attacked a monastery" [2].

Myanmar’s military government has not issued a direct comment on this specific attack. The foreign ministry said military operations are "conducted in response to insurgents and terrorist groups with maximum restraint to avoid civilian harm" [3].

Since the military coup in February 2021 that ousted the elected government and detained Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar has been engulfed in civil war. The conflict has killed over 100,000 people and displaced more than 5 million [9, 4, 6]. The Sagaing region, including Myaung township, is a stronghold of armed resistance against the military junta [1, 3, 4].

UN investigators and international monitors have accused the military of indiscriminate airstrikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including monasteries and schools. The Myanmar government rejects these allegations, maintaining its aim to target insurgents while minimizing civilian harm [3, 7, 5].