Myanmar junta airstrike kills 22 at school

DEPEYIN, Myanmar: A Myanmar junta airstrike hit a school on Monday killing 22 people, including 20 children, witnesses said, despite a purported humanitarian ceasefire called to help the nation recover from a devastating earthquake.

The strike hit a school in the village of Oe Htein Kwin -- around 100-kms northwest of the epicentre of the March 28 quake -- at about 10:00 am (0330 GMT), locals said. The green school building was a shattered husk on Monday afternoon, its metal roof crumpled with gaping holes blasted through its brickwork walls.

Over a dozen abandoned book bags were piled before a pole flying the Myanmar flag outside, as parents chiselled small graves out of the hard earth to bury the shrouded bodies of their children.

“For now 22 people in total -- 20 children and two teachers -- have been killed,” said a 34-year-old teacher at the school, asking to remain anonymous. “We tried to spread out the children, but the fighter was too fast and dropped its bombs,” she added. “I haven´t been able to collect all the casualty data as parents are in a rush.”

An education official from the area of the village in Sagaing region gave the same toll. A Myanmar junta spokesperson could not be reached for comment. Myanmar has been riven by civil war since the military deposed a civilian government in 2021, with the junta suffering stinging losses to a myriad of anti-coup guerillas and long-active ethnic armed groups.

But the military pledged a ceasefire throughout this month “to continue the rebuilding and rehabilitation process” after the magnitude 7.7 quake in Myanmar´s central belt that killed nearly 3,800 people.