Junta bombs birthplace village of Myanmar’s only Catholic Cardinal

Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces General Min Aung Hlaing (front L) waves with Cardinal Charles Maung Bo (front R) as he leaves after visiting St. Mary’s Cathedral on Christmas Day in Yangon on December 25, 2019. (Photo by AFP) Mizzima Myanmar’s military junta bombed Monhla, a model village at the junction of Ye-U, Khin-U and Kanbalu townships in Sagaing Region and the birthplace of Cardinal Charles Maung Bo — Myanmar’s first and only Catholic cardinal — on 25 July, killing an elderly woman and injuring two others, according to local military-affairs sources who spoke to Mandalay Free Press. The attack is part of a broader pattern of military aerial bombardment across Sagaing Region, one of the areas hit hardest by junta airstrikes since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup that ousted Myanmar’s elected government and triggered nationwide armed resistance. Three military gyrocopters, which local sources said took off from Monywa, carried out the attack on Monhla, according to Mandalay Free Press. A woman around 60 years old was killed and two others were injured, while four houses, a car, a tiller, a truck, motorcycles and a paddy storehouse were damaged or destroyed, matching details corroborated by other local reports. Monhla, a centuries-old mixed Catholic and Buddhist village founded by Portuguese settlers, is where Cardinal Bo was born in 1948. He was created Myanmar’s first cardinal by Pope Francis in 2015. Cardinal Bo has faced sharp criticism from pro-democracy and Christian communities in Myanmar for maintaining diplomatic ties and meeting with military junta leader Min Aung Hlaing. Local sources said no fighting had taken place in Monhla in the recent period before the attack. The post Junta bombs birthplace village of Myanmar’s only Catholic Cardinal appeared first on ENG.MIZZIMA.COM.