Military Madness > Scores of kids killed in Iran school, apparently by American Tomahawk missile

 

Iran school explosion independent investigation points to U.S. strikes

By Julia Frankel and Aamer Madhani  The Associated Press

Posted March 9, 2026 9:40 am

 3 min read

The investigative group Bellingcat says newly released video “appears to contradict” U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran was responsible for an explosion at an Iranian school that killed over 165 people at the start of the war raging in the Mideast.

It comes as mounting evidence points to U.S. culpability for the Feb. 28 strike, which hit a school adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base in Minab, Iran, in the country’s southern Hormozgan Province. Experts interviewed by The Associated Press, citing satellite image analysis, say the school was likely struck amid a quick succession of bombs dropped on the compound.

The video shared by Bellingcat is a three-second clip of a video taken the day the school was struck and circulated Sunday by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency. The video shows a munition falling on a building, sending a dark plume into the air that mingles with smoke that likely came from earlier strikes on the compound. Trevor Ball, a Bellingcat researcher, geolocated the video to a site near the school, something also done by the AP.

2:22

Iran asks U.S. ‘what threat did our school children pose?’ after deadly Minab strike

Ball identified the munition as a Tomahawk cruise missile — which only the U.S. is known to possess in this war. It’s the first evidence of a munition used in the strike.

U.S. Central Command has acknowledged using Tomahawk missiles in this war and even released a photo of the USS Spruance, part of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group located within range of the school, firing a Tomahawk missile on Feb. 28.

Complicating any assessment of the incident is the lack of images of bomb fragments from the blast. No independent agency has reached the site during the war to investigate.

When asked by a reporter Saturday whether the U.S. was responsible for the blast, which killed mostly children, Trump responded, without providing evidence: “No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran.” Trump added that Iran is “very inaccurate” with their munitions. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth quickly chimed in to say the U.S. was investigating.

Janina Dill, an expert on international law at Oxford University, wrote on X that even if the strike was a misidentification — and the attacker believed that the school had been a part of the neighboring IRGC base — it would still be “a very serious violation of international law.”

“Attackers are under an obligation to do everything feasible to verify the status of targeted object,” she wrote.

3:40

Iran names its new supreme leader as attacks grow on all front

Several factors point to a U.S. strike.

One is the launching of an assessment of the incident by the U.S. military. According to the Pentagon’s instructions on processes for mitigating civilian harm, an assessment is launched after a group of investigators make an initial determination that the U.S. military may bear culpability.

A U.S. official told the AP that the strike was likely U.S. The official spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the sensitive matter.

Another is the location of the school — next to the Revolutionary Guard base and close to barracks for a naval unit. The U.S. military has focused on naval targets and acknowledged strikes in the province, including one in the vicinity of the school. Israel, which has denied conducting the strike, has focused on areas of Iran closer to Israel and hasn’t reported any strikes south of Isfahan, 800 kilometers (500 miles) away.

Neither the U.S. military’s Central Command nor the Israeli military immediately replied to requests for comment Monday from the AP on Bellingcat’s analysis.

Speaking about the U.S. operation at a press conference March 2, Hegseth said: “America, regardless of what so-called international institutions say, is unleashing the most lethal and precise air power campaign in history.”

“No stupid rules of engagement,” he said.

“No politically correct wars. We fight to win, and we don’t waste time or lives.”

Military Madness > British troops in Afghanistan for 8 years - 64 child casualties, or, perhaps twice that

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Dozens of Afghan children died during British military action

By Clyde Hughes

A U.S. Marine assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force shows his video camera to children awaiting evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 22, 2021. A new report said at least 64 children died during British operations in Afghanistan. File Photo by Gunnery Sgt. Melissa Marnell/USMC/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 9 (UPI) -- A London-based war-violence research watchdog said in a new study Wednesday that dozens of Afghan children were killed during military actions by British forces, and the government paid out an average of $1,884 for each death.

The nonprofit Action on Armed Violence said it has confirmed that 64 Afghan children died in action involving the British military from 2006-2014, some four times higher than previously thought. The organization said the actual number of deaths could be as high as 135.

The British Ministry of Defense previously said 16 Afghan children died following British military action.

The organization, which analyzed compensation payments to Afghan families, said records beyond the 64 confirmed child deaths were not clear. Information in those reports mentioned terms such as "son," "daughter" or "nephew," without confirmation of ages.

"Of course, it is possible to be an adult son, daughter or nephew but Afghanistan has a young population, the median age is 18, so the likelihood of someone's child being a minor is high," the report said. "Even if just half of these additional victims were under 18, that would bring the number of children killed by British forces to 100."

The report went on to say it found no evidence of British forces specifically targeting children in the incidents."

Did they find any evidence that they deliberately avoided targeting children?

A report last year from Action on Armed Violence said Britain paid out $944,348.80 in compensation for almost 300 civilian deaths during the Afghanistan conflict. At the time, that included 86 children and 203 adult civilians.