Tragedy Strikes in Myanmar as Military Attack Claims Lives of Eight Children at School in Chin State

According to villagers, a military jet in Myanmar's Chin State bombed a school, resulting in the deaths of eleven individuals, including eight children. The incident occurred in the remote village of Vuilu on Wednesday. Myanmar is currently engulfed in a civil war, with multiple armed groups fighting against the military junta that seized power in 2021. Chin State is considered a stronghold of resistance against the junta, and earlier this week, ethnic Chin fighters managed to take back the town of Rikhawdar, near the Indian border. However, locals claim that Vuilu had no insurgents present and they cannot comprehend why the village was targeted. Residents shared accounts on social media, stating that military aircraft dropped at least two bombs on the village, destroying a house which served as an improvised school and claiming the lives of eight children, as well as three adults. The bombs also caused damage to other houses and two churches in the village. While clashes between the armed forces and various insurgent groups have been common in southern Chin State, locals assert that there had been no fighting in Vuilu lately, making the attack even more perplexing. The military junta has experienced a series of defeats in recent weeks, prompting them to rely heavily on air power. In Chin State, communities were among the first to take up arms against the junta after the coup, forming the Chin Defence Force and obtaining modern weapons from India. The southern part of Chin State has also been impacted by clashes between the military and the well-equipped Arakan Army insurgents. Ethnic Chin insurgents have been successful in capturing several military bases and restricting most government forces to fortified barracks in major towns. The Chin people, mainly Christians, have long expressed grievances of neglect and mistreatment by the central government, leading to armed insurgency in previous decades. In other parts of the country, the junta is facing intense offensives from an alliance of three ethnic minority armed groups in Shan State, along the border with China, as well as pro-democracy fighters. The installed president of Myanmar has warned that the country risks disintegrating if the government fails to control the fighting in Shan State. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also expressed deep concern over the escalating conflict, which has resulted in the displacement of two million people.