Myanmar Army Helicopters Fire On School Killing Six Media Residents |
| Image Credit: scramble.nl In Sagaing, Myanmar, September 16, 2022, a table and debris are seen at the entrance of a local school that was hit by an air attack carried out by the Myanmar military against the People Defense Force. |
According to media reports and residents, at least six children were killed and 17 were injured when army helicopters fired on a school in Myanmar on Monday, as the military claimed it opened fire because rebels were using the building to attack its forces.
Myanmar has now been engulfed in violence since the army deposed an elected government earlier this year. Since then, armed opposition movements have emerged across the country, which the military has met with lethal force.
Details of the violence in the village of Let Yet Kone in the central Sagaing region could not be independently verified by Reuters.
As per reports in the Mizzima and Irrawaddy news portals, army helicopters opened fire on the village school, which is housed in a Buddhist monastery.
According to reports, some children were killed on the spot by the shooting, while others died after troops entered the village.
Two residents, who did not want to be identified due to security concerns, said the bodies were later transported by military to a township 11 kilometers (7 miles) away and buried.
Images shared on social media appeared to show damage to a school building, including bullet holes and blood stains.
The military said in a statement that the Kachin Independence Army, a rebel group, and the People's Defence Force (PDF), an umbrella organization of armed guerrillas labeled "terrorists" by the junta, had been hiding in the monastery and using the village to transport weapons in the area.
According to the report, security forces sent by helicopter conducted a "surprise inspection" and were attacked by the PDF and the KIA inside houses and the monastery.
It stated that security forces had responded, that some villagers had been killed in the clash, and that the injured had been transported to public hospitals for treatment. The armed groups were accused of using villagers as human shields, and weapons, including 16 homemade bombs, were later seized, according to the statement.
Myanmar's pro-democracy shadow government, known as the National Unity Government (NUG), accused the junta of "targeted attacks" on schools in a statement issued following Friday's violence.
The NUG also demanded the release of 20 students and teachers who had been detained as a result of the air strikes.
According to Save the Children, a non-governmental organization, documented violent attacks on schools increased to around 190 in 2021 from 10 the previous year.
The use of schools as bases by the military and armed groups has also increased across the country, according to a report released this month by the organization, disrupting education and endangering children.