Myanmar Military Airstrike on Buddhist Monastery Kills 14, Opposition Group Says

AP, August 22, 2026, Bangkok : An airstrike on Friday by Myanmar's military on a Buddhist monastery in Myanmar's central Sagaing region killed 14 people who were taking part in a weeklong meditation retreat, an opposition group and a resident said.

The attack is the latest in a series of frequent and deadly aerial strikes targeting armed pro-democracy forces and ethnic armed groups in the country. The strikes often cause civilian casualties.

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

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

A villager who spoke on condition of anonymity, because he feared for his safety, also confirmed the death toll to The Associated Press. The villager said that the fighter jet dropped two bombs 15 minutes apart, with the second bomb damaging a house near the monastery where more than 100 people were on a weeklong retreat during Buddhist Lent.

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

The military didn't immediately comment. In the past, the army has said that it only attacks legitimate targets of war, accusing the resistance forces of being terrorists.

The military in Myanmar, the Tatmadaw, has increasingly used airstrikes to counter opposition forces, including the armed People's Defence Forces in Sagaing region, a stronghold of armed resistance. The resistance has no effective defence against air attacks.

The monastery attack comes a week after the UN-established Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, or IIMM, said that it observed a notable escalation in aerial attacks by the military in the months preceding the elections held in December and January, and that they have continued unabated afterward.