Myanmar airstrike on school kills at least 22; dozens injured in bombing

A military airstrike carried out by Myanmar’s junta on Monday struck a school in the central Sagaing region, leaving at least 20 students and two teachers dead, according to a resistance group member, an aid worker, and media accounts.

The strike occurred in the morning in Ohe Htein Twin village, located in Tabayin township—also known as Depayin—and resulted in injuries to dozens of other students.

There has been no official comment from Myanmar’s military regime or its state-run media regarding the incident.

Since the February 2021 military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the junta has increasingly relied on air power to suppress armed resistance across the country. Human rights groups estimate that over 6,600 civilians have been killed by security forces since the coup.

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A member of the White Depeyin People’s Defence Force, one of the groups opposing military rule, told The Associated Press that a fighter jet dropped a bomb directly on the school building shortly after 9 a.m., when students ranging from primary to high school were in class. The village is situated around 115 kilometers (70 miles) northwest of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city.

The resistance fighter, who helped rescue victims after the bombing, requested anonymity due to fear of arrest. He said the school, operated by pro-democracy groups, was badly hit, resulting in approximately 50 injuries in addition to the fatalities. Three nearby homes were also damaged in the blast.

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He also said that there had been no recent fighting in the area, though Sagaing is a stronghold of the resistance.

Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the opposition’s National Unity Government, told the AP that he received the same information on the number of casualties, and that the death toll could rise. The organization is the main opposition group coordinating resistance to military rule.

He accused the military of deliberately attacking civilians in monasteries, refugee camps, schools and hospitals, with the excuse that resistance fighters were sheltering at such sites, though this was not the case and the bombings were intended to alienate the people from the resistance movement.

The death tolls from Monday’s bombing reported by independent Myanmar media ranged from 17 to more than 20. A volunteer in Tabayin assisting displaced people who asked not to be identified because of fear of government reprisals said he received the information from the ground that 12 students were confirmed dead and around 30-50 others were wounded.

Sagaing region, near the border with India, has been a stronghold of armed resistance, and the military in recent years has stepped up airstrikes against the local pro-democracy People’s Defense Forces. The resistance has no effective defense against air attacks.

In September 2022, aerial attacks by the military’s helicopters against a school and village in Let Yet Kone village in the same township, killed at least 13 people, including seven children.

Airstrikes in April 2023 airstrikes killed as many as 160 people, including many children, who were attending a ceremony held by opponents of army rule outside Pazigyi village in Sagaing region’s Kanbalu township.

Airstrikes in Myanmar garnered increased attention recently when numerous reports deemed credible by the United Nations and human rights groups said that they continued to be carried out in the wake of Myanmar’s devastating March 28 earthquake, after which the military and resistance groups declared ceasefires to facilitate relief efforts.