Myanmar guerrillas claim rare downing of junta jet

NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar anti-coup guerrillas claimed to shoot down a junta jet on Tuesday, declaring a rare victory over the air force which has kept them at bay in a grinding civil war.

The military swiftly denied their claim, saying the plane crashed near the central village of Min Taing Pin around midday because of “sudden engine failure” while on a “practice flight”.

Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military ousted a democratic government in 2021, but analysts say its air force backed by Russia and China has allowed it to fend off a myriad of lesser-equipped opposition groups.

The military and some of its adversaries have pledged a truce this month as the country continues to recover from March’s devastating magnitude-7.7 earthquake which killed nearly 3,800 people.

But the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — the armed wing of a Myanmar communist group — said its fighters downed the plane after four days of fierce conflict in central Sagaing region, one of the areas worst-hit by the quake.

“Our fighters were able to shoot down an attack jet today. This is a first in the history of the PLA,” said a spokeswoman.

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Zaw Tun, a member of the local anti-coup People’s Defence Force, said they were fighting alongside the PLA when “our joint forces used machine guns and shot it down”.

A local administrator from the rebel-held area, Zaw Htet, said two planes were returning from a bombing run when one was hit as both “flew very low on the way back”.

Images on social media, which AFP was not able to verify, showed opposition fighters travelling towards a flaming wreck in an area littered with metal debris including what appeared to be a piece of landing gear.

But the junta information team said in a statement its own security forces had seized the crash site and “relevant authorities are continuing investigation of the cause of the engine failure”.

While junta jets have kept opposition forces largely confined to the Myanmar’s fringes, they have also been accused of striking civilian targets with impunity.

A junta air strike on a school in Sagaing region in May killed at least 22 people, including 20 children, according to witnesses.