Investigate attack on Iran girls’ school as war crime: HRW

Monday, 9 March 2026 06:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said the attack on a primary school in southern Iran that killed at least 160 people, many of them schoolchildren, should be investigated as a war crime.

“Those responsible for an unlawful attack should be held to account, including prosecutions of anyone responsible for war crimes,” said HRW Digital Investigations Lab Open Source Researcher Sophia Jones.

“A prompt and thorough investigation is needed into this attack, including if those responsible should have known that a school was there and that it would be full of children and their teachers before midday,” Jones added.

The attack was among hundreds of strikes across Iran carried out by US and Israeli forces on the first day of the operation on 28 February.

Al Jazeera’s investigation found that the targeting of the school was likely “deliberate,” while The New York Times reported that the strike may have been carried out by the US.