22 People, Mostly Children, Dead in Junta Airstrike on Boarding School in Rakhine
A Myanmar junta airstrike on a private boarding school in Thayat Tabin Village in Rakhine State’s Kyauktaw Township on Friday killed 22 people, mostly schoolchildren, according to local media reports and residents.
Kyauktaw town has been controlled by the AA since January last year.
During the airstrike, which occurred at 1 a.m., two 500-pound bombs struck the Pyinnya Pan Khinn High School and a nearby area.
Two local Rakhine media outlets reported in the evening that the death toll had reached 22, after four more schoolchildren died of severe injuries, adding to the 18 students and neighborhood children who were initially reported by the AA has having died in the strike.
Photos show that one of school’s buildings was totally destroyed and many nearby were badly damaged.
“As we get updates, the fatalities are increasing. Now, at least 20 have been killed,” a member of a social welfare association told The Irrawaddy.
Local residents said no ground clashes were reported in the area at the time of the bombing.
Located on the Yangon-Sittwe Road, Thayat Tabin Village is home to a number of private schools and hostels.
Pro-junta social media accounts alleged the AA was training its troops in the village.
On Aug. 25, a junta airstrike on the Daing Kyi neighborhood in Rakhine’s Mrauk-U killed 14 people, including three young children and three teenagers, and injured 18.
Since January, at least 106 people have been killed in junta airstrikes on Mrauk-U, Ramree, Rathedaung and Kyauktaw townships in the state, according to the AA.
The AA has captured 14 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships as well as Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State since November 2023. The state capital Sittwe, Manaung and Kyaukphyu remain under junta control, though the AA has seized most of the rural areas in Kyaukphyu and Sittwe townships.
The AA has expanded its operations into neighboring regions and states, including Magwe, Bago and Ayeyarwady, but the regime recently launched a counteroffensive seeking to regain control of its lost territories in those areas.
According to the AA, intense fighting continues on Rakhine’s borders with Ayeyarwady and Bago regions, and in the foothills of the Rakhine Yoma mountain range.
