Air strike on two Myanmar colleges: 500-pound bombs dropped as students slept in Rakhine; 19 killed

At least 19 highschool students have been killed and 22 others injured in an air strike in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, ethnic armed group Arakan Army (AA) mentioned on Saturday, reported information company AFP.(*19*)The incident occurred round midnight on Friday in Kyauktaw township, the place the AA and Myanmar’s navy have been engaged in intense combating.According to a press release by the AA, the air strike hit two personal excessive colleges, killing students aged between 15 and 21. The group blamed the nation’s ruling navy junta for the assault.“We feel as sad as the victims’ families for the death of the innocent students,” the AA mentioned in its assertion, as quoted by the company.While the navy junta has not responded, native outlet Myanmar Now reported {that a} junta warplane dropped two 500-pound bombs on the varsity as students slept.The UN kids’s company UNICEF condemned the strike, calling it a “brutal attack” and a part of a worsening sample of violence in the area.“This adds to a pattern of increasingly devastating violence in Rakhine State, with children and families paying the ultimate price,” UNICEF mentioned in a press release.The air strike is the newest in a collection of navy operations in Rakhine, the place the AA has captured vital territory over the previous yr. Myanmar has been in political and armed turmoil for the reason that 2021 navy coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected authorities, triggering a nationwide armed resistance.Communication with the affected space stays restricted because of patchy web and telephone entry. The navy has often been accused of utilizing air and artillery strikes in opposition to civilian populations in battle zones throughout the nation.