Buddhist monk, child among four killed in Myanmar military drone attacks

Regime forces used drones to bomb three villages in Mandalay Region’s Ngazun Township over the weekend, killing four people, including a Buddhist abbot and a girl, and injuring about eight others, according to local sources. The attacks took place on Sunday morning (September 6), when a column of about 100 junta troops based in the town of Ngazun entered Natthartaw, a village about nine miles to the south. From there, they launched drone attacks on several nearby villages, including Myaukkyin, Mingyo Sanpya, and Ywarthittaw. A Myaukkyin resident said that the bombings killed 60-year-old Pyinnya Zawta, the presiding abbot of the Ywarthittaw Monastery, a seven-year-old girl and a woman in Mingyo Sanpya, and another woman in Myaukkyin. “The targeted villages are adjacent to each other. The abbot was inside the monastery when it was hit. His chest was torn open and he died on the spot,” the local resident said. At least eight displaced people taking refuge at the monastery in Ywarthittaw suffered shrapnel injuries and are receiving medical treatment at Ngazun Public Hospital, the source added. Locals reported that the bodies of the two women and the child were buried on Sunday morning, while arrangements for the abbot's funeral were still underway. The junta has frequently attacked these villages as they are located near routes used by local resistance forces. However, locals believe that this time the junta intentionally bombed the monastery where displaced people were sheltering, despite there being no active fighting in the area. “It’s a forest monastery surrounded by dense trees in the woods. Displaced people frequently take refuge there. It appears they targeted it intentionally," said a woman from Mingyo Sanpya. The junta troops remained stationed inside Natthartaw and continued to conduct drone bombings on the surrounding area as of Monday morning, forcing locals to flee. After recapturing resistance-controlled towns located north of Mandalay along the Ayeyarwady River in 2025, the regime began a push earlier this year to seize remaining resistance strongholds in Myingyan District, southwest of the city. The regime has conducted ground offensives and airstrikes on villages in Ngazun, Myingyan, Taungtha, and Natogyi townships in Myingyan District, which forced some local resistance groups to retreat to Magway Region in May. Ngazun Township, which is located about 40 miles south of Mandalay—the commercial hub of central Myanmar—has been targeted particularly heavily with airstrikes, causing numerous casualties. In February, a regime airstrike on a pagoda festival killed two women and a girl in Talinkone village, while an attack on a Buddhist novitiate procession in Nat Gyi village killed one girl in April and injured over a dozen others. Drone bombings across May killed eight civilians in the township. Over 10,000 residents in Ngazun Township have been forced to flee their homes due to the ongoing conflict, according to locals and resistance forces. Displaced people from Mingyo Sanpya, Ywarthittaw, and Myaukkyin, which were targeted in Sunday’s attack, are facing severe livelihood challenges, with suffering further exacerbated by recent flooding, the Myaukkyin resident explained. “In addition to facing war, we also faced flooding this year. Our little Ngazun area is truly helpless. We are in need of assistance,” the source said. According to the General Strike Coordination Body, which has provided aid to these areas, around 18 villages in Ngazun Township were severely impacted by the recent flooding and had required rescue operations. The Emergency Management Committee–Mandalay stated on September 3 that during August, regime airstrikes in Mandalay Region—already suffering from the devastating floods—killed a child and six women in Ngazun Township, an elderly person in Singu Township, and two children in Nyaung-U Township.

Buddhist monk, child among four killed in Myanmar military drone attacks

Regime troops stationed at a village in Mandalay’s Ngazun Township launch drone attacks on three nearby villages, killing four and injuring eight others

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