Arakan News Agency
At least 18 students were killed and 20 others injured in an airstrike carried out by Myanmar’s military on a private boarding high school in Thayet Pin village, Kyauktaw Township, in western Arakan State.
Eyewitnesses reported that the school, known as Pinyar Pan Kon, was struck with two 500-pound bombs that landed directly in front of the building during the night.
Photos obtained by local media showed the bodies of children who were killed and later buried in a cemetery. Initial reports confirmed that most of the victims were students, in addition to several children from nearby homes.
The attack comes amid escalating civil conflict in Myanmar since the 2021 military coup, with repeated air raids targeting civilian areas under the control of armed groups such as the Buddhist Arakan Army.
In November 2023, the Arakan Army launched a military campaign against Myanmar’s junta forces to seize control of the state, eventually capturing 14 out of 17 towns. The conflict has also severely affected the Rohingya, who faced violence, forced displacement, and persecution from both sides after previously suffering what has been described as a “genocide” by Myanmar’s military in 2017, which forced nearly one million to flee to Bangladesh.
