GENEVA: The deadly bombing of an Iranian school spurred “visceral horror”, the UN rights chief said on Friday, urging Washington to conclude its probe and demanding justice “for the terrible harm done”.
Speaking at the start of an urgent debate in the UN Human Rights Council focused on the February 28 strike on an Iranian elementary school in Minab on the first day of the Middle East war, Volker Turk said that “whatever differences countries have, we can all agree they will not be solved by killing schoolchildren”.
The bombing “evoked a visceral horror”, Turk told the United Nations´ top rights body.
“The images of bombed-out classrooms and grieving parents showed clearly who pays the highest price for war: civilians with no power in the decisions that led to conflict,” he said.
“In this case, a reported 168 pupils, teachers, school staff, and their loved ones.”
A US Tomahawk cruise missile hit the school due to a targeting mistake, according to the preliminary findings of a US military investigation reported by The New York Times newspaper.
The UN rights chief stressed that “the onus is on those who carried out the attack to investigate it promptly, impartially, transparently and thoroughly”.
“Senior US officials have said the strike is under investigation,” he said, calling “for that process to be concluded as soon as possible, and for its findings to be made public”.
