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At Least 11 Schoolkids Massacred in Myanmar Junta Air Raid in Sagaing

May 13, 2025/in News

A junta airstrike on a school in a resistance stronghold in Sagaing Region’s Depayin Township on Monday killed at least 17 people, mostly students. A fighter jet from Meiktila airbase dropped a 500 lb bomb on the school at O Htein Twin Village, where around 100 youngsters were studying, according to residents. “The explosion was […]

Junta bombs a school in central Myanmar, kills at least 20 students

May 13, 2025/in News

Two teachers also die in the airstrike in Sagaing and medical centers struggle to cope with the wounded. Junta forces bombed a school in central Myanmar on Monday, killing at least 20 students, local sources and the country’s exiled civilian administration told Radio Free Asia. A fighter jet fired at Sagaing region’s Oe Htein Kwin […]

At Least 11 Schoolkids Massacred in Myanmar Junta Air Raid in Sagaing

May 13, 2025/in News

Junta bombs a school in central Myanmar, kills at least 20 students

May 13, 2025/in News

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At Least 11 Schoolkids Massacred in Myanmar Junta Air Raid in Sagaing

May 13, 2025/in News

A junta airstrike on a school in a resistance stronghold in Sagaing Region’s Depayin Township on Monday killed at least 17 people, mostly students.

A fighter jet from Meiktila airbase dropped a 500 lb bomb on the school at O Htein Twin Village, where around 100 youngsters were studying, according to residents.

“The explosion was quite powerful,” a resident told The Irrawaddy. “By the time we heard the aircraft, the bomb had already dropped, so there was no time to escape, and many were killed and injured.”

A local education aid group said 17 people including several students were confirmed dead, and the death toll is expected to be higher. Around 30 others were injured, and some of them are in critical condition amid a lack of proper treatment in the area.

A photo released by local anti-regime activists shows the dead bodies of 11 students in school uniforms and a severed leg lying in the school grounds.

An official of the activist group Some Messages from Depayin told the Irrawaddy that the regime intentionally targeted the school as the township is under the administration of the parallel National Unity Government (NUG).

Locals and family members prepare the funerals of schoolkids who were killed in a junta airstrike on O Htein Twin Village, Depayin Township on Monday. /S&C IDPs Aid Group

In September 2022, regime helicopter gunships also bombed the school of Let Yat Kone Village in Depayin, killing 13 people including seven children.

The junta declared a post-earthquake ceasefire until the end of May, but the NUG’s Human Rights Ministry on Monday said the regime conducted a total of 372 airstrikes across 13 states and regions between March 28 and May 9, killing 334 people and injuring 552 others.

Irrawaddy

Junta bombs a school in central Myanmar, kills at least 20 students

May 13, 2025/in News

Two teachers also die in the airstrike in Sagaing and medical centers struggle to cope with the wounded.

Junta forces bombed a school in central Myanmar on Monday, killing at least 20 students, local sources and the country’s exiled civilian administration told Radio Free Asia.

A fighter jet fired at Sagaing region’s Oe Htein Kwin village in Tabayin township, which is under rebel control.

The airstrike killed 20 students and two teachers, and more than 20 others were wounded, according to local sources who requested anonymity for safety reasons.

Earlier, Nay Bone Latt, a spokesperson for the prime minister’s office of the shadow National Unity Government said that 17 students had died but that the death toll could rise.

A school destroyed by a junta bombing at Oe Htein Kwin village in Tabayin township in Sagaing, May 12, 2025. (White Depeyin People Defence Force via AP)

It was one of the deadliest attacks on children by the military since it seized power in a coup against an elected government four years ago, triggering widespread civil conflict.

The airstrike came despite the junta declaring a ceasefire until May 31 after a March 28 earthquake that killed more than 3,800 people, mostly in Sagaing and Mandalay regions. Airstrikes and heavy artillery attacks have continued, killing more than 200 people.

Nay Bone Latt claimed that the children in school were intentionally targeted in the bombing. “The junta often uses propaganda to say after deliberately attacking areas with displaced people and children, that they were bombed because of revolutionary forces,” he told RFA.

Calls to junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun went unanswered. But 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, Associated Press reported.

Bodies are buried after a school was destroyed by a junta bombing at Oe Htein Kwin village in Tabayin township in Sagaing, May 12, 2025. (AFP)

The fighter jet, likely flying from Mandalay region’s Meiktila Air Force Base, attacked the school in Oe Htein Kwin village around 9:30 a.m., during class time, according to residents.

Medical centers nearby are overwhelmed because many victims are severely injured, one of the residents said.

According to the nongovernment Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which records fatalities in addition to numbers incarcerated by the junta, more than 6,600 civilians have been killed by security forces since the February 2021 coup.

The worst recorded fatal event for children since the coup was an April 11, 2023, airstrike on Pazigyi village, Kantbalu Township, Sagaing region, which killed 128 people, including 40 children.

Translated by Kiana Duncan. Reporting by Kyaw Kyaw Aung. Edited by Taejun Kang and Mat Pennington.

RFA News

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Myanmar Mechanism investigations reveal deliberate attacks on civilians by the Myanmar military – Annual ReportAugust 12, 2026 - 9:49 am
Geneva, 11 August 2026 – Investigations by the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (Mechanism), as detailed in its Annual Report released today, show a pattern of deliberate aerial attacks on civilians, arbitrary detentions, torture and sexual violence committed by the Myanmar military. The Myanmar military escalated its aerial attacks and other crimes against civilians in the lead-up to […]

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Civil Society Position Paper on ASEAN’s Goal of a Myanmar-Owned and -Led SolutionDecember 18, 2024 - 12:11 pm
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The Airstrikes after the journey to the China of the Junta Military LeaderDecember 10, 2024 - 1:28 pm
Operation 1027 was a coordinated military attack against the junta on October 27th, 2023. It was carried out by the Northern Brotherhood, which includes the Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army. Several months later, the Three Brotherhood Alliance held three meetings to negotiate with China on January 11 […]

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ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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