At least 150 people, including 120 children, lost their lives in the bombing of the Minab school in southern Iran. The attack took place on the very first day of the war in the Middle East.
At least 155 people died PHOTO Facebook / IRAN Monitor
At the end of March, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had declared before the UN that “over 175 students and teachers were massacred in cold blood”.
But according to a new balance sheet published by IRIB and local media, citing an official of the Iranian judiciary, “73 boys, 47 girls, 26 teachers, seven parents, a school bus driver and a pharmacist from the clinic next to the school died as martyrs in the attack on the school in Minab”reports Agerpres.
From the beginning, officials in Tehran accused the United States and Israel of triggering it “an illegal war imposed by two aggressive nuclear regimes”. Araghchi described the attack on the school as “a calculated assault carried out in stages” and “a war crime”.
Although Washington has not yet officially claimed responsibility, several indicators point to a possible US attack. Following a journalistic investigation, the New York Times reported that the tragedy could be the result of an American bombing that targeted a nearby Revolutionary Guard naval base.
The Reuters news agency, citing American officials on condition of anonymity, indicated in turn that American military investigators believe that it is “probable” that the American forces be “responsible” of the attack that hit the school.
The building hit was located close to two sites controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite army of the Tehran regime.
Experts who analyzed satellite images and videos from the scene told AP that the scene of the attack suggests that multiple bombs hit the compound with a high degree of precision.
Corey Scher, a researcher specializing in armed conflicts, said that the lack of craters or other impacts in the surroundings, as well as the nature of the destruction, indicated air-to-ground attacks that directly hit the buildings.
Former British officer Sean Moorhouse added that the visible damage was consistent with the impact of multiple 900kg warheads, thus ruling out a bombardment by a faulty Iranian missile.
The UN and international human rights organizations condemned the attack, amid other reports of other schools in Iran being bombed. Elise Baker, senior attorney at the Atlantic Council, said targeting schools violates international law.
“Strikes can legally only target military targets and combatants, but the school was a civilian target and the students and teachers were civilians,” she said.
