Six monks among nine people killed by Myanmar junta airstrike on TNLA-held town

At least nine people, including six monks, were killed by a junta airstrike on a monastery near the northern Shan State town of Nawngkhio on Sunday, according to the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).A spokesperson for the group, which controls the town, said that a regime warplane dropped four bombs on the monastery at around 5:30pm, killing the monks and three civilians sheltering there.“Two monks, four novice monks, and three civilians died of shrapnel wounds in the aerial assault,” a member of the TNLA’s press team told Myanmar Now on Monday.At least 17 others, including 13 monks, were also injured—some of them critically—the spokesperson added.Residents of the area confirmed that the monastery, which was being used to shelter civilians displaced by fighting, had been hit by an airstrike late Sunday. They added that no TNLA troops were present at the time.“There were no Ta’ang fighters at the bombing site. Almost every location hit by junta airstrikes in our town is home to civilians,” a displaced man from Nawnghkio Township said.According to a woman living in Nawnghkio, the monastery was regarded as a relatively safe place to escape from the ongoing conflict in the area.“Some of our neighbours sleep at the monastery at night for their safety and then return home in the daytime,” she said.Nawnghkio, located around 35 miles northeast of the junta stronghold of Pyin Oo Lwin, was captured by the TNLA in August 2024, but clashes continue at the southernmost edge of the township.According to the TNLA spokesperson, the group is expecting to hold talks with the military regime in May, but in the meantime must continue to work to ensure the safety of civilians.“The military regime is committing war crimes by targeting civilians. They carried out bombings to pressure us following the failure of negotiations,” a spokesperson of TNLA’s press team said.In February, the regime resumed its aerial assaults on Nawnghkio following the collapse of Chinese-brokered talks. In one attack on February 19, the junta targeted a hospital and a residential area in the town, killing at least three people and injuring four others.The previous month, two days of airstrikes left nine people in Nawnghkio dead. Those attacks came amid a cessation of fighting between the regime and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, a close TNLA ally, just days earlier.The Shan Human Rights Group estimates that the junta’s aerial bombings, artillery fire, and drone strikes in TNLA-held areas in Mandalay Region and northern Shan State in February killed at least 17 civilians and injured another 41.More than 85 homes, including two monasteries, a hospital and a school, were damaged in these attacks, the group said.

Six monks among nine people killed by Myanmar junta airstrike on TNLA-held town

The attack targeted a monastery in the northern Shan State town of Nawnghkio used to shelter displaced civilians

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