Myanmar military airstrikes on two schools kill seven, including children

The Myanmar military conducted airstrikes on two schools in Tanintharyi Region's Thayetchaung Township and Karenni State's Loikaw Township late last week, killing seven people and injuring eight others, according to locals. At midday on October 30, junta aircraft bombed and strafed with machine guns a Karen school in Ka Nyin Chaung village, Thayetchaung Township, Tanintharyi Region. The attack killed a 10-year-old girl, two young men, and an elderly woman. Two other girls and a man were injured in the airstrike, and the school and two nearby houses were destroyed. In photographs obtained by Myanmar Now, a young girl wearing a Karen school uniform is seen with her face blown open. An elderly woman lying nearby has her abdomen torn open. Padoh Saw Eh Nar, secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU) Myeik-Dawei District, said that the school had no time to evacuate as they had no warning that the junta would bomb the area. “Since there was no ongoing [ground] battle, the civilians hadn't evacuated. Then the enemy launched an aerial attack, causing casualties,” he said. “As far as I know, the schools are currently closed.” Ka Nyin Chaung is located 25 miles south of Thayetchaung town, and is administered under the KNU Brigade 4 demarcation. The targeted Karen school is operated by the KNU and is attended by a majority of local children. Such schools are opened across all seven KNU brigades to teach subjects including the Karen language. In September, heavy rainfall causing flooding and landslides devastated towns in Tanintharyi Region, including Launglon, Thayetchaung, and Dawei, killing dozens of people and leaving hundreds missing. During that crisis, two villagers from Kanyinchaung were killed and 376 houses were destroyed, leaving the village struggling with a lack of food and housing, according to the KNU Myeik-Dawei District office. Padoh Saw Eh Nar said that facing an airstrike while still reeling with difficulties caused by the flooding has made the situation even more devastating. The deserted school in Thayetchaung Township after the airstrike (Photo: KNU) A Karenni school reduced to ashes One day after the regime bombed the school in Tanintharyi, junta aircraft dropped four bombs on a school for displaced children in the jungle of eastern Loikaw Township, Karenni State, killing three students and injuring five other children. The blast blew the roof and walls off the school building, leaving only six smoking wooden benches behind. Banyar Khun Aung, the second secretary of the Karenni State Interim Executive Council (IEC), said that other children are now too afraid to attend classes at all. They would also need to prepare to build classrooms in new locations, and take time to reassure children and parents before resuming classes. While hospitals, schools, and religious buildings are designated as exempt from wartime attacks—implying they are safe locations—that definition does not hold true in Myanmar's war. The junta continues to target schools, religious sites, hospitals, and public spaces, causing significant civilian casualties. “If even safe places such as these can be bombed, it means there are no safe places left,” Banyar Khun Aung said. “We will not let this be forgotten. Whether within our country or our state, by legal means, at the right time, we will seek the truth through legal channels. We will continue striving to pursue international legal accountability,” he added. Myanmar Now made three phone calls to Khine Khine Soe, spokesperson for the junta’s President's Office, to ask about the bombing of the schools, but she did not respond. In a UN report analysing the impact of armed conflict on children released in June, it stated that 124 schools and 45 hospitals were attacked in Myanmar between January and December 2025. The Myanmar military was responsible for 140 of those 169 attacks. The report also noted that 207 children were killed or injured by aerial attacks in 2025. In May, 2025, a junta aerial attack on a school in Otein Twin village, Depayin Township, Sagaing Region, killed 24 people. Later in September, a midnight aerial attack on a high school in Thayettapin village, Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State, killed at least 22 people—mostly high school students—and injured about 20 others. The blast stripped away the roof and protective walls of the displaced persons' school in eastern Loikaw, leaving only six smoking wooden benches (Photo: Supplied)

Myanmar military airstrikes on two schools kill seven, including children

With the bombing of the two schools last week—protected from attack under international law—people are left believing that “there are no safe places left”

Subscribe for full access

‘Be back by 7’: For Yangon’s young, a life ruled by a self-enforced curfew

Myanmar’s military is regaining ground, costing the resistance key connections

Myanmar charity worker who built a lifeline for the poor loses it all after military coup

Fear grips Mandalay as junta-backed militias and kidnappers prey on residents

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

US prioritises own interests over Myanmar’s democracy in new strategy statement

Mother and 2 children shot dead with driver on Hakha-Falam road

Myanmar junta attacks kill 12, including infant, across 4 Rakhine townships

Myanmar junta bombs religious ceremony; kills own POWs in Chin State