A military air attack in Myanmar would have killed 22 people in a school – Chicago Tribune
By Grant Peck
Bangkok (AP) – A military air attack in a village in the Sagaing region, in the center of Myanmar, reached a school on Monday, killing up to 20 students and two teachers, according to a member of a resistance group, a humanitarian worker and media reports.
The morning attack in the village of Ohe Htein Twin, in the region of Tabayin in the region, also known as Depayin, also injured dozens of students, they said.
Neither the military government nor the state controlled by the State has published information on the attack.
The army used more and more air attacks to counter a widespread armed struggle against its government, which began in February 2021 when it took power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. It is estimated that more than 6,600 civilians have died in the hands of the security forces since then, according to figures collected by non -governmental organizations.
A member of the resistance group of the popular defense forces depends on the military government, he told the Associated Press that a fighting plane had launched a bomb directly on a school after 9 am, where many primary school students were already studying. The region is about 115 kilometers (70 miles) northwest of Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar.
The resistance fighter, who accelerated the place of the attack to help the victims speak on condition of anonymity because he was afraid of being arrested by the army. He said that 20 students and two teachers died during the attack on the school, which is exploited by the country’s prodmocracies movement, and about fifty additional people were injured. Three neighboring houses were damaged.
He also said that there had been no recent confrontations in the region, although Sagaing is a bastion of resistance.
Nay Phone Latt, spokesperson for the government of national unity, told AP that he had received the same information on the number of victims and that the number of deaths could increase. The organization is the main opposition group which coordinates resistance to military government.
He accused the army of deliberately attacking civilians in monasteries, refugee camps, schools and hospitals, with the excuse that the resistance fighters took refuge in these places, although this is not the case and the attacks were intended to remove the people from the resistance movement.
The dead on Monday reported by independent means of Myanmar varied between 17 and over 20 years. A volunteer in Tabayin who frequents displaced people and who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals from the government said he received the field information that 12 students were confirmed dead and 30 to 50 people who were injured.
The sagaing region, near the border with India, has been a bastion of armed resistance, and the army in recent years has intensified air attacks against the popular defense forces, a group of productions. Resistance has no effective defense against air attacks.
In September 2022, air attacks with military helicopters against a school and a village still left Kone, in the same municipality, killed at least 13 people, including seven children.
Air attacks in April 2023 killed up to 160 people, including many children, who attended a ceremony organized by opponents of the military government outside the village of Pazigyi in the Sagaing region.
Myanmar air attacks have earned more attention recently when numerous reports considered credible by the United Nations and the human rights groups said they had continued to be carried out after the devastating earthquake of March 28 in Myanmar, after which the army and the resistance groups said ceased to fire to facilitate help efforts.
____
This story was translated from English by an AP publisher with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
Originally published:
