UN body investigating fatal strike on Iranian girls school

GENEVA, March 17 (Reuters) – A U.N. inquiry has started investigating a fatal strike on a primary school on the first day of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, one of its members told reporters on Tuesday. 

The attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School consisted of two missile strikes in quick succession that killed 168 children, mostly girls, Iranian officials said in Geneva on Monday. 

Reuters reported on March 5 that U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible but have not yet reached a final conclusion or completed their investigation. The Pentagon has since elevated the probe.

“We’re at an early stage of that investigation,” Max du Plessis, a member of the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, told a Geneva press conference, saying that it had credible reports backing Iran’s death toll.

“It’s clear to us that whatever happens in respect of such an event, given the innocent lives that have been lost, there is a critical need for such an investigation to be done and for an independent outcome to follow,” he said.

If U.S. fault is confirmed, it would rank among the worst incidents of civilian deaths in decades of U.S. military strikes in the Middle East.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Miranda Murray)