Clashes, bombing displace over 1,000 Buddhist monks, nuns in Sagaing Region

Fighting has forced more than 1,000 Buddhist monks and nuns to flee their monasteries and convents since mid-March in the Min Kun Hills in Sagaing Township in the region of the same name, local sources said. More than 100 monks preparing to sit exams in the Tipitaka—also known as the Pali Canon—as well as 400 more monks housed in various and over 600 nuns from at least 40 convents have been displaced along with local civilians, a craftsman in his 50s from Min Kun told Myanmar Now.The Min Kun Hills area is known as the home of many Buddhist monasteries, convents, temples, and historic sites.“At Momeik Kone Myay, where monks were preparing for Tipitaka exams, only four or five remain now. Everyone has fled the entire Min Kun Hills area. Some monasteries are completely empty. About 95 percent of Min Kun’s inhabitants have. . .