Death toll from Iran school bombing reportedly rises to almost 150 | US-Israel war on Iran

The death toll from a missile strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran has risen to almost 150, according to Iranian state media.

Mizan news agency, the official news outlet of Iran’s judiciary, reported that the number killed in Saturday’s strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab in southern Iran had risen to 148 killed, with 95 others wounded. The news agency cited Ebrahim Taheri, a prosecutor in Minab.

The school, which was struck on Saturday morning, appears to be the worst mass casualty event of the US-Israeli-led bombing campaign on Iran so far.

Video and photographs from the aftermath of the strike, which have been verified as authentic and geolocated to the site, show hundreds of people gathered around the partially collapsed, 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 Guard 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.”