Myanmar military bombing kills 14 at Buddhist monastery, opposition reports

xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoDebris litters a Buddhist monastery after an air strike hit Swel Le Oh village in Myaung Township, Sagaing Region, Myanmar, on Friday, August 21, 2026 [Ko Nway Oo via AP]By Al Jazeera Staff and APPublished On 21 Aug 202621 Aug 2026A military air strike has killed 14 people at a Buddhist monastery in central Myanmar, an opposition group and a local resident have reported.

The attack occurred in Swel Le Oh village in Myaung township, about 75 kilometres (47 miles) west of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, Nway Oo, a spokesperson for the Civil Defense and Security Organization of Myaung Township (CDSOM) said Friday.

A fighter jet bombed the village monastery’s compound, killing 14, including three women, and injuring 20 more, Nway Oo said.

More than 100 people were staying in and around the monastery for a weeklong retreat for Buddhist Lent, according to a local villager who anonymously told The Associated Press news agency that the plane had dropped two bombs on the village 15 minutes apart.

The villager confirmed CDSOM’s death toll of 14, and said his mother-in-law was killed in the attack.

The military did not immediately comment on the strike, but has previously said it only attacks legitimate targets.

Myanmar has been embroiled in a near countrywide civil war since the army seized power from the elected government in February 2021. After the military government violently suppressed peaceful demonstrations, many opponents of military rule took up arms.

The forces fighting against the government are made up of a diverse array of ethnically or politically divided armed groups, some of which have existed for decades.

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.

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.