Attack on monastery in Myanmar's Sagaing kills at least 23, witnesses say

At least 23 people have been confirmed dead, including four children, after an attack on a monastery in a village in Myanmar's Sagaing region, witnesses said on Friday.

The monastery in the village of Lintalu was hit in the early hours of Friday morning, said Hlaing Bwa, head of the Sagaing District People's Administration, a pro-democracy group that administers parts of the central region.

He and a local resident described the attack as an airstrike by the State Administration Council, Myanmar's ruling military junta. A spokesperson for the junta did not respond to requests for comment.

The monastery housed around 200 people displaced by nearby fighting between the army and pro-democracy forces, Hlaing Bwa told Reuters.

Reuters could not immediately verify the nature of the attack.

A spokesperson for the parallel civilian National Unity Government, which tracks airstrikes, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Myanmar has been gripped by conflict since the military suppressed protests against the 2021 coup that unseated the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Days after a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Sagaing on March 28, the government announced a temporary ceasefire to provide humanitarian relief and help rebuild the region, after similar moves from armed anti-junta groups.

However, the military has continued to launch airstrikes and artillery attacks on rebel-controlled areas, including those already destroyed by the quake, which killed almost 3,700 people.

In May, the NUG accused the junta of killing at least 17 students in an airstrike that hit a school in the town of Depayin, also in Sagaing and close to the epicentre of the earthquake.

Phoe Kaine, a Lintalu resident who lives close to the monastery, told Reuters that as well as the 23 confirmed dead, many more were injured 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.