At least 19 children and a teacher were injured in Wuntho Township, Sagaing Region, on Wednesday when indiscriminate Myanmar junta shelling struck a monastic school, resistance forces said.
Most of the children were aged five to eight.
“Ten girls and nine boys were injured by junta shelling. Seven were critically injured and the rest and a teacher were slightly hurt,” a Wuntho resistance member said.
The civilian National Unity Government (NUG) said in a statement on Thursday that three howitzer shells exploded around the monastic school.
A junta checkpoint in Wuntho town was attacked by resistance fighters on Monday but groups said there was no fighting in the township on Wednesday.
“They make it clear that civilians will suffer after resistance forces attack their outposts,” said a Wuntho People’s Defense Force representative.
The monastic school has closed temporarily and the wounded are being treated in a safe area.
“The monastic school is run by community support under the direction of the NUG and most of the children in the area rely on it for their education,” a Wuntho resistance member said.
Schools in the resistance territory are frequently targeted by aerial bombings, shelling and infantry raids.
In early September, a school’s accommodation in Karen State was hit by junta airstrikes, killing a teacher and three children and wounding another teacher and five children.
Schools in eastern Kayah State are frequently hit by shelling and airstrikes, said a teacher at a western Demoso Township displacement camp.
Last year, a regime airstrike and ground attack killed seven children, with the youngest aged seven, in Let Yet Kone village, Sagaing Region.
More than 400 children have been killed by the junta across Myanmar while Sagaing Region accounted for 40 percent of child deaths since the 2021 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors regime atrocities.
