On March 18, the military council conducted an aerial attack on a monastery in Magyi Pin Tae village, Thaung Tha Township, Mandalay Region. According to a representative from the Thaung Tha Township Public Movement Committee, two military helicopters from the Meiktila Air Base launched an attack, dropping eight bombs on the monastery compound. While the bombardment caused significant damage to buildings within the monastery compound and destroyed one civilian house, fortunately, no civilian casualties were reported in this incident.
The Public Movement Committee has reported that the military council systematically targets civilian populations with daily air strikes across the region. The committee has urged local residents to immediately seek shelter in bomb shelters upon hearing aircraft or helicopter sounds. The military forces have been deliberately targeting civilian areas, religious buildings, schools, and medical facilities. This pattern of attacks demonstrates a systematic campaign of violence against civilian infrastructure and religious sites, which observers note is in clear violation of international humanitarian law and could constitute war crimes.
Since the military coup, the council has engaged in systematic oppression, killings, arbitrary arrests, and destruction of civilian property. The targeting of religious buildings such as monasteries represents a particularly egregious violation of both Myanmar’s cultural norms and international humanitarian principles. Local residents remain committed to defending their lives and property while continuing their struggle against the military dictatorship. The Public Movement Committee emphasizes that these attacks are part of a broader pattern of violence aimed at terrorizing civilian populations and suppressing resistance to military rule. Despite these challenges, local communities maintain their determination to resist the military council’s oppression and work toward the eventual end of the dictatorship system.
