The military government of Myanmar accused rebel forces in the eastern state of Kayah of firing at a passenger plane as it prepared to land on Friday, injuring a passenger who was hit by a bullet that entered the fuselage. The rebel groups have denied the accusation.
State television MRTV said the Myanmar National Airlines plane, carrying 63 passengers, was hit as it was about to land in Loikaw, the capital of the eastern state of Kayah, also known as Karenni.
He said Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for Myanmar’s ruling military council, said the shooting was perpetrated by “terrorists” belonging to the Karenni National Progressive Party, an ethnic minority militia fighting the government. and their allies in the People’s Defense Force, a pro-democracy armed group.
“I mean this type of attack on the passenger plane is a war crime,” he told MRTV over the phone. “People and organizations who want peace must condemn this issue in the round”.
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MRTV said the bullet entered the aircraft’s lower fuselage as it flew at an altitude of 3,500 feet about four miles north of the airport. He said the injured passenger was taken to the hospital.
The state news agency released photos that were said to be of the bullet hole and the passenger being treated.
Myanmar National Airlines’ office in Loikaw announced that all flights to the city have been canceled indefinitely.
Kayah state has experienced intense conflict between the military and local resistance groups since the army took power last year, overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Major General Zaw Min Tun, right, says the killing of a passenger plane in Myanmar was perpetrated by terrorists belonging to the Karenni National Progressive Party.
(THET AUNG / AFP via Getty Images)
The February 1, 2021 takeover was met with peaceful nationwide protests, but after the army and police forcefully cracked down on street protesters opposing the military government, thousands of civilians formed military units. militia as part of a popular defense force to counterattack.
PDF groups are allied with established armed ethnic minority groups such as the Karenni, Karen and Kachin who have been fighting the central government for more than half a century, seeking greater autonomy in border regions.
Khu Daniel, a leader of the Karenni National Progressive Party, denied the government’s accusation and said his party had not ordered its armed wing, the Karenni Army, to shoot civilians or passenger planes.
“The military always blames other organizations for the shootings. Our armed wing didn’t shoot the plane this morning,” he told The Associated Press.
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Government spokesman Zaw Min Tun said he provided security around the airport and accused the KNPP and PDF of wreaking havoc in Loikaw by firing artillery in the city and the area near the airport.
Since the military took power, frequent clashes have occurred in Kayah between the army and local anti-government guerrillas near a base belonging to the government’s 54th Light Infantry Battalion, located south of the airport. State media reported last Christmas that KNPP and PDF attacked a Myanmar National Airlines passenger plane with four 107mm rockets, which exploded about 2,000 meters east of the airport, injuring no one.
The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, another rebel ethnic group, had previously advised against traveling with Myanmar National Airlines because it is state-owned, so its income goes to the military and the military uses it to supply its forces.
The information officer of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, who spoke on condition of anonymity to safeguard his personal safety, called the government indictment of Friday’s shooting “nothing but slanderous propaganda against the revolutionary forces by the Council. military”.
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“The runway and the airfield area are surrounded by infantry battalions and high security areas. So to say the PDFs attacked the plane is just an accusation,” he said.
