Ko Min said he found his son and daughter's bodies in the ruins of a schoolhouse in central Myanmar, moments after a deadly air strike that witnesses said came as a military jet circled the village.

"One had no face and one's body was cut. They were cuddling their books," the 43-year-old told AFP, speaking under a pseudonym.

"My heart is broken. I value my children more than my own life."

The Monday morning air strike on the village of Oe Htein Kwin in Myanmar's Sagaing region killed 20 students and two teachers, according to a school staff member, a local administrator, and other witnesses.

It occurred during a purported truce -- to ease aid after March's devastating magnitude-7.7 quake -- between the junta, which seized power in 2021, and guerrilla fighters.

The junta denounced reports of the air strike as "fabricated news".

But the aquamarine school building -- where just under 300 pupils were enrolled -- was shattered with the hallmarks of a blast as villagers roamed the site on Monday afternoon and Tuesday.

The corrugated roof was blown away with........

© International Business Times