Myanmar’s regime has denied that it was responsible for an air attack that killed 20 schoolchildren and two volunteer teachers in Depayin Township, Sagaing Region.
On Monday morning, a fighter jet bombed the O Htein Twin village school, where around 100 children were studying.
Twenty children, including some as young as seven, and two teachers were killed. Many others were injured.
After the images of bloodied children in uniforms, severed limbs and badly damaged buildings went viral on social media, and a Thai lawmaker urged the Thai government to take the lead role in Myanmar’s peace efforts, the regime denied responsibility.
Junta newspapers accused resistance forces of attacking villages that do not support them, while anti-regime media spread false news.
However, residents said the area had been controlled by resistance groups for years and that the school had been run by the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) with public support.
O Htein Twin villagers told the media that the airstrike was carried out by a junta fighter jet. Witnesses told The Irrawaddy the sound of the aircraft was immediately followed by explosions, leaving no time to flee.
Videos from military supporters and junta media on social media said the airstrike targeted insurgents. But pro-military lobbyists claimed the explosion was caused by resistance troops testing landmines at the school.
While others argued an improvised explosive could not have killed 22 people and injured 50 others.
Junta supporters said the victims may not have been real or that the deaths were staged, despite photographic and eyewitness evidence. Some claimed schools should not have been open during the holiday, ignoring that in conflict zones, schools often operate under flexible schedules due to instability.
The civilian Ministry of Human Rights stated on Tuesday that a fighter from Meiktila Shante airbase targeted the school. The report quoted eyewitness accounts saying that the shell casings showed two cluster bombs were used.
Over the past four years, the regime has committed countless atrocities with impunity, but when faced with condemnation for a particular crime, it tends to create false narratives to cover up its wrongdoings.
In one of the crimes, junta troops shot dead a senior monk near Tada-U Airport in Mandalay last year. The regime blamed resistance groups but officially admitted the shooting later, after another monk who was present revealed the truth.
An April 11, 2023, airstrike on Pazi Gyi village, Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region, one of the deadliest attacks since the 2021 coup, killed at least 165 people, including 34 children, with many bodies burned beyond recognition.
The air attack targeted civilians celebrating the opening of a People’s Defense Force office where food was being served.
In an interview with Al Jazeera on March 28, junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun claimed that there were child fatalities because they were part of a group that collaborated with terrorism. He admitted to the Pazi Gyi village attack but insisted that in war, attacks have negative consequences
On Monday, the regime stated that it attaches great importance to the academic excellence of the younger generations, implying that it had no reason to attack a school.
But it was not their first attack on the school.
Thirteen people, including 11 children, were killed when the regime bombed a school in Letyetkone village in Depayin Township in September 2022, attracting condemnation from the UN Secretary General and foreign embassies in Myanmar.
A pilot, who has defected, said the pilots continued their attacks after seeing children running away.
The regime has carried out hundreds of air attacks since declaring a ceasefire in the aftermath of the March 28 earthquake.
Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing met both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in May. Both Russia and China are major arms suppliers to the regime.
The NUG urged the international community to hold the regime accountable for its latest crime against children.
This article is supported by the Transition Promotion Programme, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
