Myanmar resistance group says it hit a military air base at Mandalay airport with drones

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s main pro-democracy resistance group said Friday its armed wing launched drone attacks on a military air base that shares a compound with an international airport serving the country’s second-largest city, forcing the airport to shut down.

It was the latest attack in Myanmar’s more than five-year conflict between the military and armed resistance groups that emerged after the army seized power in February 2021, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The takeover sparked peaceful protests nationwide, but after security forces cracked down with lethal force, many local armed resistance groups were formed and loosely organized into what is called the People’s Defense Force, or PDF.

The PDF is the armed wing of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, which considers itself the country’s legitimate administrative body.

Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the NUG, told The Associated Press that the PDF used drones to attack a military air base within the compound of Tada-U International Airport in Mandalay.

“We only attacked the section of the site where the military aircraft conducting airstrikes against civilians were stationed,” Nay Phone Latt said. “We did not attack the civilian airfield site at all.”

The PDF said in a statement posted Friday on Facebook that 12 of its units took part in the operation. It described the air base as a key air force headquarters from which airstrikes against civilians are carried out.

The group said five military personnel, including a colonel, were killed in the attack, along with three resistance fighters. The claims could not be independently verified.

The airport compound — which houses both a military air base and a civilian airport — is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Mandalay.

Videos posted by Myanmar online media appear to show one drone flying directly toward one of two fighter jets parked inside the hangar. The footage cuts out as the drone nears the aircraft, making it unclear whether it struck the jet, the netting around it or detonated. Another video appears to show people gathered near the hangar fleeing as a drone approaches.

There was no immediate evidence of any damage caused by the attack, but the military acknowledged that drones had reached one of the country’s most heavily guarded locations.

The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Friday that six drones launched by the PDF attacked the airport and nearby areas on Thursday afternoon and that security forces successfully intercepted the drones and disabled the explosives they carried.

The report said the attack temporarily disrupted some domestic flights but caused no injuries or damage to vehicles or airport runways.

Myanmar Airways International said on Facebook Thursday night that it was suspending all international flights operated to and from the airport, citing operational reasons. The airport remained shut on Friday.

Two people who operate businesses at the airport told AP Friday that the facility had been closed for two days following the attack. They said they saw no damage to the civilian airport and that operations were expected to resume Sunday. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared arrest by the military.

Drones have become crucial for resistance forces, which are outmanned and outgunned by Myanmar’s military. Initially, smaller drones with lighter payloads were used, but now the opposition groups are using more sophisticated systems to drop explosives precisely on military targets.