5 Buddhist novices killed, 14 injured among 36 civilian casualties of SAC air and artillery attacks in Nawngkhio township
Between March 8 and 17, 2025, SAC airstrikes, artillery and drone attacks killed fourteen civilians and injured twenty-two in areas of Nawngkhio township controlled by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). Most of the casualties were young Buddhist novices targeted in an airstrike on a monastery in Nawngkhio town.
On March 8, at 7 pm, SAC troops fired four artillery shells into Nar Kyaung Kham village, injuring one child and damaging a house. The shelling caused the villagers to flee their homes and take refuge in other villages.
On March 14, at 10 am, SAC drones dropped bombs on a sugar cane farm near Ya Pyin village in Nawng Daw village tract, killing three young women and injuring five other civilians (2 men and 3 women) harvesting sugar cane. Ya Pyin is a Danu village, whose residents are mostly sugar cane farmers.
On March 16, at 5:30 pm, a SAC fighter jet dropped four 250-pound bombs and then fired machine guns on the Sein Ratana Pariyatti monastery at the eastern edge of Nawngkhio town. The attack killed eleven civilians (two monks, five novices, two women and two men) and injured eighteen others (fourteen novices, three women and one man). Some died instantly from the bombing, but four novices were killed by machine gunfire while trying to run away. As it was still daylight, and the novices were wearing red robes, their status as civilians must have been clearly visible to the SAC pilots, who deliberately gunned them down. One seriously injured novice died in hospital on March 17.
The bombing damaged four monastery buildings, including the main temple, a monk hostel and two novice hostels. Three cars and two nearby houses were also damaged. There were five monks and 60 novices (aged 5 to 16) living at the temple, and over 200 IDPs from Nawngkhio town, who slept there at night for safety. There were no armed personnel staying at the monastery.
On March 17, at 11:45 am, two SAC fighter jets dropped two bombs and fired machine guns into Kyauk Kyan village, five kilometers west of Nawngkhio town. The bombs fell about 700 meters from the Chinese oil and gas pipelines. Several houses were damaged by the bombing.
Contact:
Sai Hor Hseng 66 94 728 6696 Signal (Shan, English)
Ying Leng Harn 1 825 425 4099 Signal (Burmese)
