Myanmar military airstrike hits school in Sagaing village, killing at least 8 civilians including children

Myanmar's military carried out an airstrike on a school and homes in a village in Kani Township, Sagaing Region, on the morning of November 7, killing at least eight civilians and injuring seven. Local sources told the Global Arakan Network that three gyrocopters took off from the Northwestern Regional Military Command in Monywa at about 11 a.m. and dropped bombs on the school and homes in Nyaung Pin Lay village, in the southwestern part of Kani Township.

Eight dead named; five of the injured are children

The eight dead were named as U Nyan Wai, 65, U Win Bo, 50, Ko Zaw Lin Oo, 40, Ma Kyu Kyu Aye, 33, Ko Myint Win, 31, Ko Myint Tun, 30, Ma Khin Myo Hlaing, 25, and Ma Sabai Phyo, 17. The seven injured include a man over 50, a woman in her 30s, and five children aged 13, 7, 5, 4 and 2. The report said schools were currently closed, or the casualties could have been far worse, and the school building was damaged. Another local source, People's Spring, put the death toll at 11, including a teacher and young children; the figures have not been independently verified.

Background: more than 12,000 strikes on civilian areas

Myanmar has been in civil war since the military seized power in 2021, and the military has frequently bombed areas held by resistance forces. According to a statement in early July by the Ministry of Human Rights of the National Unity Government, the military carried out 12,896 airstrikes and shellings on non-military civilian areas between the February 2021 coup and the end of June 2026.

(Sources: Global Arakan Network; Burma Coup Resistance Notes / People's Spring. Casualty figures not independently verified.)