Reuters was unable to independently verify details of Friday’s violence in Let Yet Kone village in the central Sagaing district. According to reports in the Mizzima and Irrawaddy news portals, army helicopters had opened fire on the school housed in a Buddhist monastery in the village. Some children were killed on the spot in the firing, while others died after troops entered the village, reports said. Two residents, who declined to be named due to security concerns, said by phone that the bodies were later taken by the military to a township 11 km (7 miles) away and buried. Images posted on social media showed what appeared to be damage, including bullet holes and bloodstains in a school building. In a statement, the military said the Kachin Independence Army, a rebel group, and the People’s Defense Force (PDF), an umbrella group of armed rebels the junta calls “terrorists,” had holed up in the monastery and were using the village for to transport weapons in the area. Security forces sent by helicopter had carried out a “surprise inspection” and were attacked by the PDF and KIA inside houses and the monastery, it said. He said security forces responded and said some villagers were killed in the clash and the injured were taken to public hospitals for treatment. The statement accused armed groups of using villagers as human shields and said weapons, including 16 homemade bombs, were later seized. In a statement after Friday’s violence, Myanmar’s pro-democracy shadow government, known as the National Unity Government (NUG), blamed the junta for “targeted attacks” on schools. The NUG also demanded the release of 20 students and teachers it said were arrested after the airstrikes. Documented violent attacks on schools rose to about 190 in 2021 in Myanmar from 10 the previous year, according to Save the Children, a non-governmental organization. The use of schools as bases by both the military and armed groups has also increased across the country, the group said in a report this month, disrupting education and putting children at risk.
