Myanmar military junta attack kills 13, including seven children

Government helicopters attacked a school and village in north-central Myanmar on Friday, an unnamed school administrator and an aid worker said Monday. The school administrator said that for an hour, the helicopters fired machine guns and heavier weapons at the school, which is located in the compound of a Buddhist monastery. Then, 80 soldiers entered the monastery compound and fired guns at the buildings, she said. The soldiers then took about 20 people with them and accused two of them of being members of the anti-government People’s Defense Force, the armed wing of the resistance to the military.

What prompted the attack? The military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February last year. The people began peaceful pro-democracy protests across the country, but the military responded with violence. Thirteen civilians were killed in the clashes, but the number of children killed in an incident reached a new high since the military took over. The junta military government has also conducted executions and extended the sentences of political prisoners.

Dig deeper: Read Onize Ohikere’s report in World Tour on people in Myanmar mourning murdered civilians.