India, March 29 -- Players held small backpacks as Iran's national soccer team used a match against Nigeria on Friday to honour the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school.

More than 165 people were killed, most of them children, when a Feb. 28 strike, likely launched by the US, hit the school in southern Iran. Neither the United States nor Israel has accepted responsibility for the attack, which has come under staunch criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups. The US military is investigating and has said it would never target civilians. During the national anthem on Friday, the Iranian team honoured the memory of the slain children by placing small pink and purple school backpacks in front of them. Vi...