 "(File) A Myanmar military soldier hoists a national flag during a ceremony to mark the 69th anniversary of Independence Day in Yangon, Myanmar on Jan. 4, 2017. AP")
A junta airstrike in Myanmar’s Rakhine state has killed at least 19 school students, an ethnic minority group said on Saturday.
The Arakan Army (AA) is engaged in a fierce fight with Myanmar’s ruling military for control of Rakhine, where it has seized swaths of territory in the past year.
The group posted a statement saying that the junta launched an airstrike targeting two private schools in Kyauktaw township, in midnight attacks on Friday. The strikes killed 19 school students between the ages of 15 and 21 and wounded 22 others.
“We feel as sad as the victims’ families for the death of the innocent students,” the statement said, blaming the military junta for the attacks. According to Myanmar Now, a warplane dropped two 500-pound bombs on a high school as students slept.
In a statement, UNICEF condemned the “brutal attack”, which it said “adds to a pattern of increasingly devastating violence in Rakhine State, with children and families paying the ultimate price”.
The Rakhine conflict is one element of the bloody chaos that has engulfed Myanmar since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in a 2021 coup, sparking a widespread armed uprising.
Meanwhile, a junta-appointed official from Myanmar’s election commission announced on Thursday that results from the country’s upcoming, highly contested national election are expected by the end of January next year.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMyanmar has been engulfed in civil war since the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, citing unproven claims of electoral fraud.
Despite the ongoing conflict, the military is pushing ahead with an election it claims could pave the way toward peace. The phased voting is scheduled to begin on December 28 and is expected to continue for about a month.
With inputs from agencies