Targeted Terror: Junta Bombs Displaced Persons’ Shelter in Tabayin School

The new year began with a familiar horror for the residents of Sagaing Region. On the night of January 1, 2026, the Myanmar military launched a targeted airstrike on a primary school in Mu Kan Gyi Village, Tabayin Township. The facility was being used as a temporary shelter for over a thousand people who had recently fled the conflict in Mogok, Mandalay Region.

According to officials from the Tabayin People’s Defense Force , the strike involved a 500-lb bomb that directly hit the main school building. The blast severely damaged the structure and left seven internally displaced persons (IDPs) with varying degrees of injuries.

A Calculated Strike

Local resistance members believe the attack was far from accidental. “The military has had the exact GPS coordinates of every school in this country since long before the coup,” a Tabayin PDF representative told news outlets. “They knew exactly what they were hitting—a sanctuary for those who have already lost everything.”

Since the loss of Mogok to resistance forces earlier in 2025, thousands have sought refuge in neighboring Sagaing. While many stay with relatives, those without local ties often congregate in public buildings like schools and monasteries, making them vulnerable targets for the junta’s air campaign.

No Safe Haven

The Mu Kan Gyi incident is part of a grim, escalating pattern in 2025 and early 2026, where schools and hospitals are increasingly becoming frontlines.

The psychological impact of these strikes is profound. “We moved here because we thought a school would be safe,” said one witness who fled Mogok last month. “Now, we have to run again. There is no roof in Myanmar that can protect us from the planes.”

Humanitarian Fallout

Following the bombing, the remaining IDPs in Mu Kan Gyi have been forced to evacuate once more. Humanitarian workers are struggling to find new, discreet locations for these families as the military intensifies its surveillance and aerial bombardments in resistance-held territories.

As the international community debates the legitimacy of the junta’s ongoing multi-phase elections, the wreckage of Mu Kan Gyi’s school stands as a stark reminder of the daily reality for millions: a war where even a classroom offers no refuge.