According to Unicef, at least 11 children were murdered and 15 more remain missing after army helicopters opened fire on a school in northern Myanmar.

Last Friday, troops and helicopter gunships opened fire on a temple school in the rebel stronghold area of Sagaing.

Myanmar’s military authorities said the school in Let Yet Kone village was the target of an attack on rebels hiding there.

The school’s students spanned from kindergarteners through adolescents.

Earlier, the BBC’s Burmese service stated that at least six children were slain, including two boys ages 7 and 14 and three girls ages 7, 9, and 11. Another 13-year-old child was struck by a bullet while fishing with his father nearby.

According to them, the majority of the children’s remains were removed by military personnel.

Six adult villagers, including five men and one woman, were slain by troops that day.

Reuters said that images published on social media appeared to depict bullet holes and blood stains at a school.

The UN agency for children, Unicef, stated that the youngsters had been killed by “indiscriminate fire” during the airstrike. It demanded the immediate release of the fifteen missing children.

“While additional information is still being confirmed, Unicef extends condolences to the parents and families who have lost children,” the organization stated in a Monday statement.

“Schools should be secure. Children should never be harmed.”

In February 2021, Myanmar’s military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government.

Since the coup, security forces have killed more than 1,500 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

Observers assert that the magnitude of violent conflict and battles this year is symptomatic of a civil war. There is an active guerrilla front known as the People’s Defence Force in major regions of the nation, where the government encounters serious opposition (PDF).

Jonathan Head, BBC’s South-East Asia reporter, reports that the government’s use of aircraft attacks has become regular in resistant regions, where its troops struggle to battle against rebel groups supported by the local populace.