Ranks of bereaved Myanmar families bow in silent grief to pray for their dead, some of the latest victims in a yearslong conflict estimated to have claimed 100,000 lives.

Clasping their hands at the monastery hall in central Magway region, they offer alms for the deceased: small cash notes, rice and curry ¡ª all they can spare while living through a civil war.

¡°How many more young people will have to die?¡± asked Soe Gyi, recounting how his nephew was killed in combat after he quit training as a monk to fight for pro-democracy rebels.