ASEAN calls for peace, Myanmar’s junta bombs monastery in Sagaing: 23 dead
Four children are among the dead, with several more wounded. The airstrike came in the wee hours of this morning. The military regime has not yet issued a comment. For ASEAN, a vote in Myanmar is "not a priority." The bloc is pushing the junta to "live up to its commitments" to engage in talks and achieve peace.
Yangon (AsiaNews) – At least 23 people have died, including four children, in a massive attack on a monastery in a village in the Sagaing Region.
According to Reuters, Hlaing Bwa, head of the Sagaing District People's Administration, a pro-democracy group that governs parts of the central region, an airstrike hit the building in the village of Lintalu in the early hours of this morning.
The official, along with a resident, added that fighter jets from the State Administration Council (SAC), the formal name of the military regime, carried out the operation.
However, no official comment has come from the junta. A military spokesperson refused to answer questions to clarify or confirm the attack.
The monastery housed approximately 200 people displaced by local fighting between the army and pro-democracy forces, Hlaing Bwa explained, but the incident or the number of victims could not be independently verified.
A spokesperson for the National Unity Government (NUG) also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The NUG, which is monitoring the airstrikes, is constituted by civilian members of the ousted civiliangovernment.
The monastery is located in a region hit by a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake on 28 March. A temporary ceasefire to provide humanitarian aid and reconstruction proclaimed by the military regime was never respected.
In the following weeks, regardless of the devastation and the critical situation for the local population, the military continued to launch airstrikes and shell rebel-held areas, including those already destroyed by the earthquake that killed nearly 3,700 people.
In May, the NUG accused the junta of killing 17 students in a raid that targeted a school in Depayin, also in Sagaing, near the earthquake's epicentre.
Phoe Kaine, a Lintalu resident who lives near the monastery, said that, in addition to the 23 confirmed deaths, many people were wounded in the attack.
“We are evacuating patients in need of immediate medical attention as part of our ongoing rescue and relief efforts," Phoe Kaine said.
Meanwhile, Myanmar remains on ASEAN’s agenda. Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said the priority is for the ruling junta to honour its commitments to peace, not elections. This year Malaysia chairs the 10-nation bloc.
Activists and critics have slammed the military's plan to hold elections this year, viewing them as merely an attempt to prolong its rule in the absence of a real opposition and with longtime pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in prison.
For Minister Mohamad, the bloc's priority remains Myanmar's compliance with the five-point peace plan that the junta itself agreed to in 2021, months after overthrowing the democratic government and jailing its top officials.
The peace plan has largely been a failure since the military government is reluctant to engage in talks with opponents it views as "terrorists."
Myanmar’s opposition political parties have been decimated, and those that remain are effectively excluded from political life and would be unable to participate in elections.
Minister Mohamad stressed that ASEAN cannot accept elections in Myanmar in which all parties involved, including the opposition, are not allowed to participate.
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