At least 32 civilians have been killed in an attack by Myanmar's military junta on a village in the north-west of the country on Saturday, according to eyewitnesses and local media.
Most of the victims were shot dead in two Buddhist monasteries in the village in the municipality of Myinmu in the Sagaing region where they had been seeking shelter from the military, it said.
"They attacked the village unexpectedly in the early morning. They shot at the people who had fled to the monasteries. Some civilians came to the monastery out of fear of the soldiers and were also killed," a representative of the local defence forces resisting the junta told dpa.
In one of the monasteries 24 bodies were found, he said. Six bodies were found in the other and two on the streets, the representative added.
According to eyewitnesses, some of the dead had been shot in the head.
It comes after 16 people were killed in a Buddhist monastery in central Myanmar in an airstrike by the military junta on Thursday.
Another 50 people were injured when the monastery in the Magwe region was hit by a powerful bomb while a meeting was taking place.
The military in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has ruled with an iron fist since a coup in February 2021, suppressing any resistance with brutal force and repeatedly attacking places from the air.
The Sagaing region is considered a rebel stronghold and has repeatedly been hit particularly hard. According to the independent research group Data For Myanmar, the military and allied militias have burned down 88,375 homes across the country since the coup in 2021 and the end of April this year, almost 60,000 of them in Sagaing.