What’s left: Students’ bags being kept in front of a school building damaged in a bombardment carried out by the military at the Ohe Htein Twin village in Tabayin township, Sagaing region. — AFP
An airstrike by the military on a village in the country’s central Sagaing region hit a school, killing as many as 20 students and two teachers, according to a member of a resistance group, an aid worker and media reports.
The morning attack on Ohe Htein Twin village in the region’s Tabayin township, also known as Depayin, also wounded dozens of students on Monday, they said.
State-run MRTV television denied the reports of the airstrike on Monday evening’s news broadcast, saying subversive media outlets were intentionally spreading fake news.
A member of the White Depeyin People’s Defence Force resistance group said a fighter jet dropped a bomb directly onto a school, where many students from primary to high school levels were studying after 9am.
The resistance fighter, who rushed to the site of the attack to help the victims, spoke on condition of anonymity.
He said that 20 students and two teachers were killed in the attack on the school, which is operated by the country’s pro-democracy movement, and about 50 others were wounded.
Three nearby houses were damaged.
Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the opposition’s National Unity Government, said he received the same information on the number of casualties, and that the death toll could rise.
The organisation 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 military’s denial of the attack on state television cited an unnamed local official saying that security forces were working only to maintain peace in the area and not bombing nonmilitary targets.
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.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern at reports of the airstrike on the school in a region impacted by a recent earthquake.
He said that “even in times of armed conflict, schools must be protected,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
“The reported incident occurred despite the Myanmar military announcing the extension of its ceasefire until May 31 to facilitate the relief efforts due to the earthquake,” Dujarric said.
“Reports of attacks, including in Sagaing and other areas impacted by the March 28 earthquakes, add further to the already immense suffering of people in Myanmar, where over one-third of the country requires humanitarian aid.” — AP
