The death toll from a missile strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran has risen to 165, according to state media.
The IRNA news agency also cited a local prosecutor as saying that 96 people had been wounded in Saturday’s strike in Minab.
The strike on school appears to be the worst mass casualty event of the US-Israeli-led bombing campaign on Iran so far.
Video and photographs of the aftermath, which have been verified as authentic and geolocated to the site, show hundreds of people gathered around the partially collapsed and smoking building, with rubble strewn across the street and men digging through it for victims. Screams can be heard in the background. In some of the images, schoolbags and textbooks are being pulled from the debris.
Capt Tim Hawkins, the spokesperson for US Central Command, said the US was “aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations. We take these reports seriously and are looking into them”.
The school building appears to be adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps barracks.
Hossein Kermanpour, the spokesperson for Iran’s health ministry, said in a post on X that the bombing of the school was “the most bitter news” of the conflict so far. “God knows how many more children’s bodies they will pull from under the rubble.”
Restrictions on international reporting in Iran mean the Guardian and other independent media outlets have not been able to access the site in Minab or independently verify the death toll.
The Nobel peace prize laureate and girls’ education advocate Malala Yousafzai said in a statement: “They were girls who went to school to learn, with hopes and dreams for their future. Today, their lives were brutally cut short.
“Justice and accountability must follow. All states and parties must uphold their obligations under international law to protect civilians and safeguard schools.”
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