Fourteen people were killed in military air strikes at a monastery in Myanmar early on Friday, opposition fighters and a local rescue worker have said. All of those killed were elderly and a number of monks were also injured, the rescue worker told BBC Burmese, adding that the site was struck twice.

Attack Details and Casualties

The attack happened at around 09:00 local time (02:30 GMT) in Myaung township in the central Sagaing region, some 70km (47 miles) west of Mandalay, according to the news agency AFP. Civilians had reportedly gathered at the site for a meditation retreat to mark Buddhist Lent. Myanmar’s military has not commented.

Nway Oo Myaung, a pro-democracy rebel, told AFP that the victims included 11 men and three women, and Five of the victims were said to be from one village, while the remaining nine were from a neighbouring township. “Older people had entered the meditation centres,” Myaung added, saying the dead were aged between 50 and 70.

A second, unnamed opposition fighter said he had been among those searching for survivors of the attacks, “While we were trying to rescue people, the aircraft came to bomb a second time,” he said.

Broader Context of the Conflict

Myanmar has been locked in civil war since the military staged a 2021 coup ousting Aung San Suu Kyi, and has been under martial rule since. Aung San Suu Kyi, the 81-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner and democracy campaigner who served as Myanmar’s state counsellor (a role equivalent to prime minister), has been detained since the military seized power in 2021. She was moved to house arrest in April.

The war has killed more than 100,000 people and displaced 5.2 million, according to the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations — Resistance forces and ethnic armies control an estimated 42 percent of the country, compared with the military government’s 21 percent. Myaung township is in the Sagaing region, which is a stronghold of armed resistance against the military government.

International Response and Military Justification

The United Nations-established Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) said in August that it observed a notable escalation in aerial attacks preceding the elections held in December and January, and that they have continued unabated afterwards. Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the IIMM report, saying it only targets “terrorists” and that security forces exercise maximum restraint to avoid civilian harm.

The military, which is frequently accused of carrying out strikes on public buildings, has previously said it only strikes legitimate targets, the latest attack adds to the growing controversy surrounding the conduct of the conflict and the military’s actions against civilian gatherings.