Asia-Pacific
Myanmar: UNICEF reports three children killed as an airstrike hits a school sheltering displaced families in Kayah state
UNICEF says a school used by displaced families in Loikaw, Kayah state, was hit in an airstrike on 1 November, with three children reported killed and five injured.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on 3 November 2026 that a school in Loikaw Township, in Myanmar’s Kayah state, was hit in an airstrike, with three children reported killed and five others injured. According to UNICEF, as relayed by UN News, the educational centre was being used by displaced families when it came under attack on Saturday, 1 November.
The agency did not name who carried out the strike. The reported attack falls within the civil war that followed the 2021 coup, and the account rests on UNICEF’s reports; UN News describes the casualty figures as reported, not independently verified.
UNICEF also pointed to further airstrikes in Rakhine state over the weekend, including one that struck a temporary healthcare facility and reportedly killed a newborn baby and healthcare workers. “These reports are yet another stark reminder that children are bearing the brunt for the devastating conflict in Myanmar,” UNICEF said, adding that youngsters “are being killed and injured in the very places where they should be safe and protected.”
Appeal to all parties
The agency appealed to all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and to take all necessary measures to protect children. Schools and health facilities are protected civilian objects under those rules, and UN bodies have repeatedly called for them to be kept out of hostilities in conflicts elsewhere, including the nearly 2,000 attacks on education that UNICEF has counted in Ukraine since 2022.
The weekend reports come as the UN continues to document the human cost of the conflict in Myanmar. A UN human rights expert recently said the military had killed at least 8,384 civilians since the coup, a figure covered in an earlier Geopolitiki article, UN expert says Myanmar’s military has killed at least 8,384 civilians since the coup and calls the human rights situation “catastrophic”.
Neither Myanmar’s military authorities nor any armed group had, in the UN News account, commented on the Loikaw and Rakhine reports at the time of publication. Independent verification of the casualty figures from the ground is limited, and UN News attributes them to UNICEF’s reporting.
