Vox Pop: Heartbreak in wake of deadly junta bombing of Kyauktaw village school

By Admin 19 Sep 2025

DMG Newsroom

18 September 2025, Kyauktaw

Myanmar's military regime dropped two bombs on a boarding school in Thayet Ta Pin Village, Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, at around 1 a.m. on September 12, killing 20 students and injuring 21 others. The UN, ASEAN, and civil society organisations in Arakan State have all condemned the military regime's deliberate targeting of students.

The regime's aerial bombardment killed and injured local and displaced schoolchildren from Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Pauktaw, Maungdaw, Myebon and Sittwe, including up to 25 students under the age of 18. DMG interviewed some of the families of the students in the wake of the tragedy.

Daw Ma Thaung Ni || Mother of the deceased Ma Khin Khin Kyaw || Minthar Taung Village, Kyauktaw Township

My daughter has also received her roll number for the Grade 12 exam. My daughter asked me to send her K20,000 to the food delivery man. She wrote to me asking me to buy snacks for my nieces when I come home tomorrow.

Our daughter was among the victims of the military regime's jet bombing. How can I, as a mother, make peace with her death? My daughter died in a junta airstrike while she was sleeping after finishing her studies. Her skull was cracked from the forehead to the back, and we had to cover her body with tape and bury her.

Ma Oo Mya Yin || Sister of the deceased Ma Hla Hnin Nwe || Minthar Taung Village, Kyauktaw Township

We encouraged my sister to not worry and just try to pass Grade 12. We made her try hard. But now, due to the brutality of the military regime, my sister has tragically died. My sister had so many hopes. Her friend told us that she was still screaming with her injuries before she died. Her friend told us that she was leaning on the stairs and shouting 'Mom'. She still regrets that she couldn't save my sister.

My sister was so sick and she was screaming for the villagers to save her. If it had happened near our house, we could have saved my sister. She would have survived. Our family worked hard and educated her. We lost our sister just when she was about to become an educated person.

Daw Ma Ni Khaing || Mother of the deceased Maung Myint Myat Soe

That afternoon, I went to my son's boarding school. My son kissed me on the cheek, thinking he remembered me. She teased me that if he kissed me on one cheek, I would get K10,000. He kissed me on both cheeks, so I gave him K20,000. That very night, this sad incident happened. I didn't even ask how my son was doing. How must he have felt? I hadn't novitiated him yet. Before he died, he had told his brother that if his two younger brothers were educated, they would be able to support me even if their father died. How could I forget those words?

Ma Nwe Mar Hsan || Family of the deceased Ma Khin Khin Kyaw

I want to kill junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. I don't want this to happen to anyone again. I pray that people who can remove the military regime from power will emerge as soon as possible.

U Aung Tun San || Local man from Minthar Taung Village, Kyauktaw Township

I am not OK with the deaths of these children due to the junta airstrike, the mass killing of the next generation. These children have already reached Grade 12 through their education. After completing Grade 12, they can become doctors and teachers. Killing those who will become good people for the future is a tragedy for relatives and society.

I want to call for an effective investigation and action against the military regime. I don't want the genocidal military regime to continue killing children. I want to find and prosecute the people who ordered the killing of these children and the bombing of these two schools. Now, Russia and China should stop providing the military regime with heavy weapons, bombs, and lethal weapons. If they continue to provide them, more people will die. I see this as genocide. I want those countries to stop providing weapons to the military regime.