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Myanmar military helicopters strafe religious school, killing 7 children and at least 6 adults: eyewitness report
- A school administrator said two Mi-35 helicopters shot at the school, in a Buddhist monastery compound, for about an hour on Friday last week
- About 30 students were wounded in the attack. Some lost limbs. Witnesses said soldiers burned the bodies of the dead children in a nearby township
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Government helicopters have attacked a school and village in north-central Myanmar, killing at least 13 people including seven children.
Civilian casualties often occur in attacks by the military government on pro-democracy insurgents and their allies. However, the number of children killed in the air attack on Friday last week in Tabayin township appeared to be the highest since the army seized power in February last year, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Friday’s attack occurred in Let Yet Kone village in Tabayin, also known as Depayin, about 110 kilometres (70 miles) northwest of Mandalay, the country’s second largest city.
School administrator Mar Mar said she was trying to get students to safe hiding places in ground floor classrooms when two of four Mi-35 helicopters hovering north of the village began attacking, firing machine guns and heavier weapons at the school, which is located in the compound of the village’s Buddhist monastery.
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Mar Mar works at the school with 20 volunteers who teach 240 students from kindergarten to Grade 8. She has been hiding in the village with her three children since fleeing for safety to avoid the government crackdown after taking part last year in a civil disobedience movement against the military takeover. She uses the pseudonym Mar Mar to protect herself and relatives from the military.
She said she had not expected trouble since the aircraft had been over the village before without any incident.
“Since the students had done nothing wrong, I never thought that they would be brutally shot by machine guns,” Mar Mar said by phone on Monday.
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