Junta airstrike hits monastery shelter in Sagaing, killing father and son

An airstrike hit a monastery sheltering civilians in central Myanmar’s Sagaing Region early Tuesday, killing at least two people and wounding four others, residents and resistance sources said. Shortly after 5am on February 4, a junta paramotor from the Monywa-based Northwestern Command struck a monastery in Thet Kei Kyin village, just over a mile southeast of Monywa Town. “The aerial strike hit a monastery where displaced civilians were taking refuge,” an officer from the resistance Monywa Revolution (MR) told Myanmar Now. “The military junta is clearly aiming to kill civilians en masse. This is a grave war crime.”The strike killed a man in his 50s and his 18-year-old son on the spot and wounded at least four others, sources said, adding that the monastery was being used as a shelter by displaced villagers whose homes had been burned in earlier junta offensives. “Many homes in Thet Kei Kyin village have been set on fire over the past year and a half, leaving residents displaced for an extended period,” the officer said. Between 7pm and midnight on February 3, the junta launched airstrikes on Kani Township in Sagaing Region. At approximately 7:20pm, two junta fighter jets carried out four airstrikes in the southwestern part of Kani Township, followed by strikes from two paramotors around 8:30pm, and three more near 11:30pm, targeting the surrounding areas. “We have received preliminary reports that the nighttime airstrikes hit forest areas, but the details are still being investigated,” a resistance fighter from Yimarbin District said. Over the last few months, the junta has carried out repeated attacks. In January alone, airstrikes across 22 townships killed dozens of people and injured over 100. A statement from the civil society group Fortify Rights on January 29 noted that the junta junta mainly uses paramotors and gyrocopters in attacks across central Myanmar—including Sagaing, Magway, Mandalay, Ayeyarwaddy, and Bago—where low-altitude flights are easier. These aircraft are also sometimes used in Rakhine State, the group said. These two aircraft are mostly deployed in areas with little resistance force presence, often causing civilian casualties.

Junta airstrike hits monastery shelter in Sagaing, killing father and son

At least two civilians were killed and four others wounded when a paramotor attack struck a monastery sheltering displaced villagers near Monywa, resistance sources said

Subscribe for full access

The shadowy past—and present—of the Myanmar Times and Frontier

On the road to Namtu

‘Can We Go Home?’: Civilians trapped in Bhamo fighting

Beyond Beijing’s reach, a new resistance alliance takes shape in Myanmar

Myanmar military struggling to secure Mogok’s surroundings

10,000 flee as Myanmar junta forces torch villages in Natogyi Township

Five killed in junta airstrike on civilians’ shops in Magway Region

Heavy fighting reported in Hpapun as resistance forces move to take last junta base

Six killed in junta airstrike on Thantlang as bombing intensifies in Chin State

KIA set to fully resume rare earth mining in captured ‘special region’

Myanmar junta airstrikes kill three civilians sheltering in Rakhine State monastery

Myanmar’s factories cling to life as power shortages persist

Bought Out or Seized: Mandalay farmers face impossible choices amid land grab

Myanmar junta partners with Chinese firm to build natural gas terminal despite Rakhine State conflict

Thai officials call on Myanmar regime to crack down on fraud, trafficking gangs on Thai-Karen State border

Myanmar military continues to lose ground to anti-junta forces in northern Shan State

Despite escalating violence, Myanmar junta leader says elections will proceed

NUG-founded bank set to sell shares to meet ‘emergency needs’

Myanmar’s junta bears ‘sole responsibility’ for Suu Kyi’s health—NLD

Karenni youth fight for freedom at the cost of their lives and limbs

The mothers of the Magway resistance

A Myanmar artist finds freedom behind bars—by portraying prisoners’ oppression

As Myanmar’s revolution beckons, a new breed of activist photographers heeds the call

The man behind the Myanmar junta’s campaign of terror in Sagaing

Authorities tighten restrictions on passport process for Myanmar nationals in Thailand

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles