Government helicopters struck a school and village in north-central Myanmar, killing at least 13 people, including seven children, a school administrator and an aid worker said on Monday.
Military government attacks on pro-democracy rebels and their allies often result in civilian casualties. However, the number of children killed in an airstrike last Friday in Tabayin Township in the Sagaing region was the highest since the military seized power in February last year, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The army’s takeover triggered massive non-violent protests across the country. The army and police responded with lethal force, resulting in armed resistance spreading across the cities and countryside. According to a report released by UNICEF this month, fighting has been particularly fierce in Sagaing, where the military has launched several offensives, in some cases burning villages, displacing more than half a million people.
Damaged roof and broken parquet (AP Photo)
Friday’s attack took place in the Let Yacht Con village of Tabayin, also known as Depayin, about 110 kilometers (70 miles) northwest of Mandalay, the country’s second largest city.
School administrator Mar Mar said she was trying to escort students to safer places in the ground floor classrooms when two of the four Mi-35 helicopters hovering north of the village began attacking the school with machine guns and heavy weapons. done, which is in the school. The village’s Buddhist monastery complex. March March The school works with 20 volunteers who teach 240 students from kindergarten to eighth grade.
She has been hiding in the village with her three children since she fled to safety to escape government action after participating last year in the civil disobedience movement against military takeover. She uses the pseudonym Maar Maar to protect herself and relatives from the army. He said that he did not expect trouble as the plane had passed over the village without incident.
“Since the students didn’t do anything wrong, I never thought they would be shot ruthlessly with machine guns,” Mar Mar told the Associated Press by phone on Monday. By the time she and the students and teachers were able to take refuge in the classrooms, a teacher and a 7-year-old student had been shot in the neck and head and tried to use pieces of clothing on the march. bleeding.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child said in June that the United Nations had documented 260 attacks on schools and education workers since the coup. (AP photo)
“They kept shooting from the air on the campus for an hour,” Mar Mar said. “He didn’t stop even for a minute. At that time we could only chant Buddhist mantras.” When the air raid stopped, about 80 soldiers entered the monastery complex, firing their guns at the buildings. The soldiers then ordered everyone in the compound to come out of the buildings.
Mar Mar said he saw about 30 students with wounds on their backs, thighs, faces and other parts of the body. Some students had mutilated limbs. “The kids told me their friends were dying,” she said. “I even heard a student shout, ‘It hurts so much. I can’t take this anymore. Please kill me.’ That voice still echoes in my ears,” said Mar Mar. At least six students died at the school and a 13-year-old boy, who worked as a fishing tackle in a nearby village, was also shot dead, he said.
At least six adults were also killed in air strikes in other parts of the village, he said. The soldiers picked up the bodies of the dead children.
More than 20 people, including nine injured children and three teachers, were also taken by the soldiers, he said. Two of those captured were accused of being members of the anti-government People’s Defense Force, the armed wing of the military’s resistance.
Security forces also torched a house in the village, forcing the residents to flee.
In Tabayin, a volunteer helped displaced people who asked not to be identified for fear of government reprisal, the bodies of the dead children were cremated by soldiers in the nearby Ye Yu township.
“I am now telling the international community about it because I want redress for my children,” Mar Mar said. “Instead of humanitarian aid, what we really need is real democracy and human rights.”
Myanmar Now, an online news service, and other independent Myanmar media also reported the attack and the deaths of students.
A day after the attack, the state-run Myanmar Alin newspaper reported that security forces had gone to investigate the village after members of the People’s Defense Force were reported to be hiding there. The report said that members of the People’s Defense Force and their allies, the Kachin Independence Army, an ethnic rebel group, were hiding inside homes and the monastery and opened fire on the security forces, killing and injuring the residents of the village. Went. It said the injured were taken to hospitals, but did not mention the condition of the students.
At least 2,298 civilians have been killed by security forces since the military seized power last year, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which oversees human rights in Myanmar. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child said in June that the United Nations had documented 260 attacks on schools and education workers since the coup.