Iraq News Now

Attacks on education

The section aligns with the definition of attacks on education used by the Global Coalition to Protect Education under Attack (GCPEA) in Education under Attack 2018.

Africa

Burkina Faso

08 July 2019: In Mansila department, Yagha province, unspecified perpetrators burned down five schools for unspecified reasons. Source: Menastream

Cameroon

Throughout July 2019: In English-speaking regions, armed separatists continued to occupy 53 schools, reportedly using them for military purposes and to hide from the Cameroon Armed Forces. The alleged occupation could complicate government plans to restart education in the regions in September 2019. Source: VOA

Central Africa Republic

20 July 2019: In Niem, Bouar district, Nana-Mambere province, a director of the private Catholic school of Niem-Yelewa was murdered by unidentified armed group. Sources: Corbeau News, Centrafrique Presse and Afropages

Democratic Republic of the Congo

17 July 2019: In Kafwaya, Kolwezi district, Lualaba province, DRC’s national military, the FARDC – who were deployed in June to seize illegally controlled mines – reportedly ransacked a school and torched dozens of houses in the local mining community. Two young children were severely burned. Source: Mining

Somalia

09 July 2019: In Raga Ceel, Cadale region, Middle Shabelle province, a nine-year-old girl on her way to school was raped and tortured by a security personnel. The suspect escaped. Source: ACLED

South Sudan

09 July 2019: In Bahr Grinti county, Amadi state, unknown gunmen shot and killed the county’s education director along the road between the county headquarters and Mapordit Hospital. Their motivation is unknown. Source: Radio Tamazuj

11 July 2019 (DOA): In Bahr Grinti county, Amadi state, armed men abducted at least six students under unspecified circumstances. The victims were later rescued by South Sudanese police. Source: Radio Tamazuj

Sudan

25 July 2019: In the area of Jebel Marra2, Central Darfur state, Sudanese Government forces reportedly fired an artillery shell that fell at the entrance of the Sheikh Adam Khamis Koran School, killing four students and wounding 20 more. Source: Dabanga Sudan

29 July 2019: In El-Obeid city, North Kordofan state, members of the Rapid Support Forces opened fire on a spontaneous anti-government protest, killing at least five secondary school students and wounding between 40 - 50 more. Sources: All Africa and Dabanga Sudan

Asia

Afghanistan

01 July 2019: In Kabul, the detonation of a car bomb as part of a wider and complex Taliban attack caused part of the building of an unnamed primary school to collapse. At least 51 students were hurt by flying glass. A private war museum, which tends to host many schoolchildren, was also affected. The intended target was a logistics and engineering unit of the Ministry of Defence. Sources: Anthony Neal, RFE RL and The New York Times

07 July 2019: In Ghazni city, district and province, the Taliban set off a car bomb, killing 14 people and wounding 200 more, many of whom were students attending a nearby school. Sources: BBC, FDD’s Long War Journal and RFE RL

19 July 2019: In Kabul, an explosion of unknown origin struck near the entrance of the Kabul University shortly after daybreak as students were waiting to take fourth-year exams, killing at least eight people and injuring another thirty-three. Sources: Al Jazeera, CBC, AP News: RFE RL and The New York Times

India

24 July 2019: In Ganderbal, Jammul and Kashimir region, Indian troops allegedly assaulted and injured several Central University of Kashmir (CUK) students at their hostel after the students objected to a raid which the troops had allegedly conducted without any official procedure at their hostel. Sources: Kashimir Reader, Rising Kashmir and The Kashmir Images

The Philippines

25 July 2019: In Barangay Hibaiyo, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental province, a public-school principal and his sister, an official of the Department of Education, were shot and killed by unidentified assailants. Sources: News MB, Philstar and Newsinfo

Europe

Ukraine

03 July 2019: In Donetsk, Horlivska school #30 was damaged due to hostilities. No injuries were reported. Source: Humanitarian Response

08 July 2019: In Khreshchatytske, Donetsk, an unnamed school and kindergarten reportedly sustained damages due to increased hostilities in the area. Windows on the first floor in kindergarten and on the first and second floors in the school were damaged with shrapnel. No injuries were reported. Source: Humanitarian Response

11 July 2019: In Lukove, Donetsk, an unnmaed school was reportedly damaged. 20 windows were shattered and several shrapnel holes in the wall of the school building were reported. Additionally, the area around the school was heavily cratered by shelling - more than 15 craters were found within the 120-meter radius of the school. Source: Humanitarian Response

11 July 2019: In Zolote-5/Mykhailivka, Luhansk, school #4 was reportedly damaged by gunfire from an unspecified origin. The school has reportedly been damaged 11 times since the beginning of 2019. Source: Humanitarian Response