Students killed in Myanmar boarding school as military escalates air campaign
At least 19 students were killed last week in a Myanmar military airstrike on a boarding school in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State, according to the Arakan Army, an ethnic militia. The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF confirmed that children were among the casualties and victims of injuries, describing the attack as part of spiraling violence in the region.
“The attack adds to a pattern of increasingly devastating violence in Rakhine State, with children and families paying the ultimate price,” UNICEF said, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports, as internet and mobile services in parts of Rakhine have been cut off by the junta, and attempts to reach local residents were unsuccessful. Military officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh, has been the scene of intense fighting for months between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, which seeks greater autonomy for the coastal province. The area remains one of Myanmar’s most troubled states, with the World Food Programme warning of rising hunger and malnutrition, including among the minority Rohingya community.
The shadow National Unity Government reports that nearly 500 airstrikes nationwide over the past month killed more than 40 children and damaged 15 schools. Airstrikes have sharply increased, with 1,134 launched between January and May this year, compared with 197 in 2023 and 640 in 2024, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
Since the 2021 military coup that ousted Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar has been gripped by widespread violence. Opposition movements, fueled by ethnic armies and new armed groups, have resisted the military, which continues to control much of the country.
After four years of extended emergency rule, the junta formed an interim government last month and pledged to hold multi-phase elections starting December 28, with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing remaining as acting president. The election, widely dismissed by Western governments and human rights organizations as a sham, will largely exclude opposition groups, with polling canceled in 56 lower house constituencies and nine upper house constituencies in rebel-controlled areas of Kachin, Chin, Shan, and Rakhine states.
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