Sudanese planes attack Catholic school

PANLIT, Sudan — Northern Sudanese planes unleashed an attack on a Catholic school in southern Sudan’s Bahr al-Ghazal region Nov. 24.

Eyewitnesses report that the bombing raids over Panlit village began at 11 a.m. at a time when the maximum number of the Panlit Missionary School’s 700 students were attending classes. Bombers made three passes over the site, dropping a total of 14 shrapnel bombs on the area, one round of which hit and destroyed two school classrooms, and sent hundreds of students fleeing  into the bush for safety.

Many students on the school’s rolls were still unaccounted for as of Nov. 28. Church officials hope that the missing children may have returned to their villages.

Staff attached to diocesan offices in Nairobi called the attack yet another indication of the Khartoum government’s “war against children.”