85 Iranian schoolgirls now reported dead in US/Israeli missile attack

The death toll from a US and Israeli strike on an Iranian girls’ elementary school has now risen to 85, according to local media.

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Al Jazeera quotes a report by Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim News Agency that quotes local officials as saying that the death toll had risen to 85.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the strike at a girls’ elementary school in Minab, in the Hormozgan province of Southern Iran.

Five pupils were initially reported killed in the Saturday attack. Later on Saturday, the death toll rose to 40. The death toll has now risen to 85.

Emergency workers are currently clearing wreckage from the site, where 63 others were also injured.

Aljazeera, quoting Iran’s Tansim News Agency, also reported that two students were killed by a strike that hit another school east of Tehran.

However, it remains unclear if the US and Israel targeted the school buildings.

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In a post on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shared a photo of the attack, noting that it destroyed the girls’ school and killed “innocent children.”

“These crimes against the Iranian People will not go unanswered,” Mr Araghchi wrote in a post on X.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei also condemned the “blatant crime” and called for the intervention of the United Nations Security Council.

Meanwhile, Iran’s National Security Council has advised residents to leave the capital, Tehran. Local media reported that a key highway linking the capital to northern Iran has been converted into a one-way route to allow safe movement.

The council’s evacuation advisory comes as the number of Iranians who have been killed as a result of the US and Israel military strikes continues to rise.

Iran’s state media reports that extremely heavy traffic is visible on west-to-east routes of the Soleimani highway, in Tehran.

READ ALSO: 201 people killed, 747 injured as US/Israel war on Iran continues

Retaliatory strikes by Iran have also damaged buildings in Israel, including a nine-story building in northern Israel, leaving a man with minor injuries.

Al Jazeera quoted Israel’s Channel 12 as stating that most of the Iranian missiles were intercepted, but shrapnel hit the building and injured the man.

Loud sirens continue to blare across Israel as citizens are urged to seek shelter, and schools, airports, and all public facilities are shut.

Iran has also shut its airspace and closed schools and other public buildings.

Iran also fired strikes at US bases in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE. Saudi Arabia has also confirmed Iranian strikes on Jeddah, but said it shut down the missiles.

Most international airlines have cancelled, suspended, or rerouted flights to and over the Middle East.