Precision strike analysis

Some weapons and conflict experts told NBC News that the satellite imagery appeared to reflect a targeted attack, while others noted that without knowing the intended target of the strikes, it was difficult to say whether the damage reflected “precise” hits.

It is unclear if the responsible party knew the building housed a school.

Jeffrey Lewis, an expert in arms control and open-source intelligence who specializes in satellite imagery, said he believed each building in the compound had been “individually targeted,” most likely with bombs dropped by aircraft.

“The targeting of this site is incredibly accurate,” Lewis said. “The explosion damage is incredibly precise, and it doesn’t look like really anything missed, so that would tend to argue for precision munitions delivered by aircraft.”

And Rich Weir, senior adviser of the Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement to NBC News on Friday that “the number of individual strikes across the compound and the apparent accuracy with which they appear to have struck individual structures across the compound, shown in part through the relatively small circular holes that were points of entry for the munitions on multiple rooftops, indicate that the attack struck multiple structures on the compound base with highly accurate, guided munitions.”

Corey Scher, a postdoctoral researcher in Conflict Ecology at Oregon State University, said the fact that “most of the bombs dropped on this compound directly hit a building” appears to imply “something about targeting.”

However, in a video interview on Friday, he cautioned that without knowing the intended target of the strikes, it was difficult to say whether the strikes could be considered a “precise hit.”

His colleague, Oregon State associate professor Jamon Van Den Hoek, who heads Conflict Ecology at the university, noted the number of impact sites on the compound, saying the lack of “evidence” of a similar pattern of strikes surrounding the site indicated “there tends to be something within this compound that seemed to be aimed at.”

‘Torn apart’

Witnesses speaking to NBC News described the horrific scenes in the aftermath of the strikes.

Monazah, whose son, Soheil, was killed in the attack just two days before his eighth birthday, said the school had “collapsed on top of the children” by the time she made it to the area.

“People were pulling out children’s arms and legs. People were pulling out severed heads,” she told NBC News on Monday.

Qasemi, the first responder, shared a similar account, telling NBC News “there were severed heads, severed hands, and bodies torn apart” as he described “extensive” rubble, with children “trapped underneath it.”

Amin Khodadadi reported from Tehran, Courtney Kube and Julie Tsirkin reported from Washington and Chantal Da Silva, Molly Hunter and Matthew Mulligan reported from London.