UN chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday condemned the strike, according to his office, which said the death toll rose to at least 13 dead, including 11 students whose school was struck. The Southeast Asian country has been in chaos since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021, with nearly 2,300 civilians killed in a crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group. The junta claims Friday’s deadly attack targeted rebels hiding in the area. The Sagaing region in the country’s northwest has seen some of the fiercest fighting, and clashes between anti-coup fighters and the military have seen entire villages burned down. The UN children’s agency Unicef condemned Friday’s violence in Depeyin township in Sagaing. “On 16 September, at least 11 children were killed in an airstrike and indiscriminate fire in civilian areas,” Unicef said in a statement issued on Monday. He said schools should be safe and never targeted. “At least 15 children from the same school are still missing,” Unicef said, calling for their immediate and safe release. Guterres, who on Tuesday hosted world leaders at the UN general assembly, “strongly condemns the attacks by Myanmar’s armed forces on a school in Let Yet Kone” and offered his condolences to the families of the victims, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. in a statement. Such attacks on schools in violation of international humanitarian law constitute “serious violations against children in times of armed conflict that are strongly condemned by the Security Council,” said Guterres, calling on the perpetrators to be held accountable. Video taken by a local community group shows a classroom with blood on the floor, damage to the ceiling and a mother crying over her son’s dead body. The junta said it sent troops by helicopter to Let Yet Kone after receiving a tip that fighters from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) – an ethnic rebel group – and a local anti-coup militia were moving weapons into the area. The military accused the rebels of using civilians as human shields and said they seized landmines and explosives from the village. “Security personnel provided the necessary medical treatment and arranged to send patients to a nearby hospital,” the military said in a statement. Junta spokesman Zhao Min Tun on Tuesday accused the KIA of taking villagers to a monastery and then firing on troops from there. A villager contacted by AFP rejected army suggestions that there were militants in the area. “They just attacked the school. They say someone attacked them, then they fought back, but that is not true,” said the villager, who spoke on condition of anonymity for his own safety. The villager said the army took away some of the bodies and arrested several people, including children and teachers. Save the Children Asia regional director Hassan Noor said schools should be off limits during conflicts. “How many more incidents like this have to happen before action is taken?” Noor said, urging the UN Security Council and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to take swift action. ASEAN has so far led fruitless diplomatic efforts to resolve the Myanmar crisis. The group’s leaders meet in Phnom Penh in November.
