Myanmar junta airstrike on school in Arakan kills at least 18

At least 18 civilians, including children, were killed and 20 others injured on Friday when junta forces carried out an airstrike in Rakhine State, western Myanmar, reports, citing foreign media UN news.

The junta forces bombed a private boarding school in Thayat Tabin Village in Arakan Army-controlled Kyauktaw township, Rakhine (Arakan) state.

Myanmar has witnessed prolonged ethnic armed clashes since the junta took power in 2021. However, the junta has decided to hold general elections on Dec. 28 later this year.

Millions of people in Myanmar “live in daily fear for their lives,” said the head of the UN refugee agency on Thursday, following a three-day visit to the conflict-ridden country.

Four years after the military coup which deposed the democratically elected government, Myanmar’s civil conflict grinds on, leaving millions displaced and without a home.

“The suffering of millions of people across Myanmar is immense,” said UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi. “With aerial bombardments, destruction of property, and forced recruitment, they live in daily fear for their lives.”

He added that “civilian men, women and children must be protected from violence, and solutions found so that they can choose to return home in safety and dignity.”

A brutal civil war is not all Myanmar has to face. In March, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit the country affecting multiple regions including the capital, Nay Pyi Taw.