In the latest escalation of military operations in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, at least 19 high school students were killed and 22 others injured in an air strike, according to the ethnic armed group Arakan Army (AA) on Saturday.

Reports indicate that the attack occurred around midnight on Friday, September 12, in Kyauktaw Township, an area that has seen intense clashes between the AA and Myanmar’s military. According to the AA, the air strike targeted two private high schools, claiming the lives of students aged between 15 and 21. The group directly blamed Myanmar’s ruling military junta for the attack. In a statement, the AA expressed its grief, saying, “We feel as sad as the victims’ families for the death of innocent students.”

The military junta has not yet issued a response to the air strike. However, sources suggest that a junta warplane dropped two 500-pound bombs on the school premises while students were asleep.

The attack drew strong condemnation from the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, which described it as a “brutal attack” and expressed alarm over the escalating violence in the region. “This adds to a pattern of increasingly devastating violence in Rakhine State, with children and families paying the ultimate price,” the UNICEF statement read.

Myanmar has been mired in political and armed turmoil since the military coup of February 2021, which ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The coup triggered nationwide armed resistance, with groups such as the Arakan Army gaining control over significant territories over the past year. The Kyauktaw air strike underscores the growing humanitarian toll of the conflict, particularly on children and civilians, and highlights the urgent need for international attention and intervention to protect vulnerable populations in the region.

Source: Sakshi Post 

MN/