Myanmar junta bombs five monasteries on Buddhist new year
- Radio Free Asia Burmese
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Monasteries, often sheltering many of the country’s displaced people, have increasingly come under attack.
By RFA Burmese
2025.04.15
Junta airstrikes during Myanmar’s New Year celebrations have killed five civilians and injured 26 others, including several monks, according to residents who spoke with Radio Free Asia.
The attacks, which took place on Sunday and Monday, targeted monasteries at the start of Thingyan – Myanmar’s traditional New Year festival, a time of deep cultural, spiritual, and social importance for the Burmese people.
Despite ceasefire announcements by both the junta and various resistance groups – some aligned with the exiled National Unity Government – fighting has continued. Rebel forces have claimed gains in new territories, prompting retaliatory airstrikes from the military, often resulting in heavy civilian casualties.
Monasteries, which have become shelters for many of the country’s displaced people, have increasingly come under attack, drawing condemnation for the targeting of religious sites.
In Sagaing region’s Kani township, for instance, junta’s aerial attack around 8 a.m on Monday targeted a monastery where people were due to arrive for the holiday, one resident said.
“Of the novice monks in Tha Min Chan village, two died and two were critically injured,” he said, declining to be named for security reasons.
“Because the bomb fell a bit early, it was only the monks in the monastery – those who came to make merit and perform duties for the monks had not arrived yet.”
Another woman was critically injured when bombs fell on a nearby village, the Kani resident added.
Separately, Indaw township, which was captured in part by the National Unity Government’s militia, faced additional attacks around 11 a.m. on Monday, residents said. The attack injured two people.
On Sunday, junta attacks also hit monasteries in three townships in Sagaing region – Taze, Wuntho and Kawlin – killing one woman and injuring seven people, including a monk, according to the residents.
In a separate attack in Kyauktaw township, Rakhine state, three civilians were wounded: 10-year-old Chit Hnin Wai, 27-year-old Kyi Kyi Win and 34-year-old Oo Than May, the residents added.
In Mandalay region’s Natogyi township, airstrikes around six on Monday targeting another monastery injured three more monks, including a child, residents told RFA.
In Thabeikkyin township, attacks on Sunday killed a man and a woman and injured eight others, said a member of the Pyinoolwin People’s Defense Force, one of the rebel groups.
“Around 10:21 p.m., they dropped four bombs on Chaung Gyi village that were around 200 or 300 pounds each,” he said, declining to be named for security reasons.
Junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun has not responded to RFA’s request for comment.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Taejun Kang.
© 2025 Radio Free Asia
