Funerals held in Myanmar for pupils killed in alleged junta air strike on rural school

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army's 2021 takeover ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, which led to nationwide peaceful protests that escalated into a durable armed resistance denying the army control of much of the country.

Funerals have been held in Myanmar for almost two dozen students and teachers alleged to have been killed in an air strike on a local school by a military junta jet fighter.Local resistance groups and independent media said on Tuesday that at least 17 pupils and two teachers died in the attack on Ohe Htein Twin village, in Sagaing region's township of Tabayin, also known as Depayin.Their reports said that as many as 100 people were wounded.The dead students were from grades two to 11, with the youngest seven years old, according to the shadow National Unity Government, which serves as an umbrella organisation for opponents of military ruleA member of a local resistance group fighting against army rule said that another student, who was severely injured in Monday's bombing, died on Tuesday afternoon while undergoing medical treatment.The resistance fighter, who requested that neither he nor his group be named for fear of arrest by the military, said the incident occurred while more than 100 students were studying in a school in the village, which has about 500 houses.He denied that any resistance fighters were stationed in the village that was attacked but Sagaing has been a stronghold of armed resistance to junta rule in Myanmar.Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army's 2021 takeover ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, which led to nationwide peaceful protests that escalated into a durable armed resistance denying the army control of much of the country.A report in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Tuesday denied the army had carried out the strike, saying malicious media outlets were intentionally spreading fake information.The military's tight control over the media and the relative remoteness of many such incidents makes independent confirmation of what occurred difficult.Funerals took place for most of the victims in two village cemeteries after hastily arranged funerals on Monday, just a few hours after the bombing incident, the unidentified resistance fighter said.About 100 wounded people, both students and teachers, were being treated in regional hospitals as the village’s clinic lacked adequate facilities.At least two victims have had to have limbs amputated, he added.A member of another resistance group, the White Depeyin People's Defence Force, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the funerals had ended by Tuesday.Air strike condemnedA report on Tuesday by the Human Rights Ministry of the National Unity Government said the jet fighter took off from an airbase in Meiktila township in the central region of Mandalay on Monday morning and deliberately attacked the school with two cluster bombs while students were preparing to sit for their exams."All individuals implicated in the commanding, execution, or collusion of deliberate air strikes against innocent children, students, and educators shall be subject to stringent judicial repercussions," the group said in a separate statement."No avenue for impunity shall be permitted. Every responsible party will be pursued without respite, unequivocally identified, held accountable and subjected to stringent punitive measures under the full force of the law."The military has increasingly used air strikes to counter the widespread armed struggle against its rule and resistance groups have no effective defence against air attacks.More than 6,600 civilians are estimated to have been killed by security forces since the army's 2021 takeover, according to figures compiled by NGOs.Air strikes in Myanmar garnered increased attention recently when numerous reports deemed credible by the United Nations and human rights groups said that they continued to be carried out in the wake of Myanmar's devastating 28 March earthquake, after which the military and resistance groups declared ceasefires to facilitate relief efforts."We are horrified by reports of a Myanmar regime airstrike on a school in an earthquake-affected area at a time when a ceasefire has been announced. Schools are meant to be a place of safety and opportunity, not collateral in a conflict," the UK's Under-Secretary of State for the Indo-Pacific Catherine West said in a statement."We repeat our call to all parties, particularly the Myanmar military, to refrain from airstrikes, safeguard civilians and protect civilian infrastructure."