An airstrike by Myanmar’s military on two private schools in a village in Myanmar has killed at least 18 people, most of them students, an armed group and local media reports said Friday.
More than 20 others were injured in the nighttime attack on the Thayet Thapin village in Kyauktaw township, the area controlled by the ethnic Arakan Army in the western Rakhine state, they said.
Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, told The Associated Press that a jet fighter dropped two bombs on Pyinnyar Pan Khinn and A Myin Thit Private High Schools.
The situation in the village could not be independently confirmed, with access to the internet and cellphone service in the area mostly cut off.
Kyauktaw, southwest of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, was captured by the Arakan Army in February last year.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, 2021, triggering widespread popular opposition.
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