11 students killed in terrorist attack on Kachin boarding school

Burning houses after strong bomb blast at Dayau Tang Gun's two-storeyed house at N'Jang Kawng (Thita) ward in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

11 students were killed in a dastardly terrorist attack on a Kachin boarding school in Burma’s northern city of Myitkyina on Sunday at 7:45 p.m. Burma Standard Time.

The boarding school with 32 students is located in N’Jang Kawng ward (Thida in Burmese) in Kachin state’s capital Myitkyina. It was attacked with bombs by unidentified terrorists, said locals.

The students who died in the attack were around 10 years old. They included two sons of Dayau Tang Gun, the boarding school’s headmaster and a member of the local firefighters of the government, said relatives.

The attack left 27 students injured. Four students were released from the Myitkyina Public Hospital on Monday evening after treatment, said hospital sources.

Inside the damaged house.

An injured boy has been hospitalized after bomb blast.

Orphans and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) following the war were among the students. They were learning Kachin cultural band and martial arts staying there and attending government schools, said residents.

The boarding school and two adjacent homes were completely gutted after the explosion, said eyewitnesses.

According to eyewitnesses, they saw two motorcyclists throwing a packet at the boarding school.

No group or organization has claimed responsibility so far for this deadly attack and Burmese authorities are investigating, said locals.

A day earlier there was a series of mine explosions at three different areas in Myitkyina at about 9:55 p.m. The explosions occurred--- near Irrawaddy River Bridge, in front of the Telecommunication office and a bus station, said residents.

Kachin community leaders in Myitkyina told Kachin News Group, the new Burmese government led by former General Thein Sein has not only launched a new war on  the Kachin Independence Army but is also now treating Kachin people as its enemy.