An injured passenger was struck by a bullet that entered the fuselage of the passenger plane, according to allegations made by Myanmar’s military government against rebel fighters in the eastern state of Kayah on Friday. The claim was refuted by rebel groups.
In Loikaw, the capital of the eastern state of Kayah, also known as Karenni, the Myanmar National Airlines plane carrying 63 passengers was hit as it was about to land, according to state broadcaster MRTV.
According to the report, the shooting was carried out by “terrorists” associated with the Karenni National Progressive Party, an ethnic minority militia fighting the government, and their allies in the People’s Defense Force, an armed pro-democracy group, according to Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for Myanmar’s ruling military council.
By phone, he told MRTV, “I want to say that this kind of attack on the passenger airliner is a war crime. People and organisations that value peace must denounce this problem universally.”
According to MRTV, the aircraft was four miles (6.5 kilometres) north of the airport and flying at a height of 3,500 feet when the bullet entered the lower fuselage. The injured traveller, according to the report, was transferred to a hospital.
The state news agency published images it claimed showed the passenger being treated and the bullet hole.
All flights to the city were permanently cancelled, according to an announcement made by the Myanmar National Airlines office in Loikaw.
Since the military gained control of Kayah state last year and toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government, there has been a lot of fighting between the military and local resistance organisations in the region.
Peaceful nationwide demonstrations opposed the takeover on February 1, 2021, however after the army and police used lethal force against protesters in the streets, thousands of civilians established militia units as part of a People’s Defense Force to fight back.
The PDF factions are associated with long-standing, armed ethnic minority groups including the Karenni, Karen, and Kachin who have been at odds with the government for more than 50 years in an effort to gain more autonomy in border regions.
The Karenni National Progressive Party chairman Khu Daniel refuted the government’s charge and asserted that his group had not given orders for the Karenni Army, its armed branch, to fire on civilians or aeroplanes.
The military always attributes the shootings to other groups. This morning, our armed wing did not shoot the plane, he told The Associated Press.
Speaking on behalf of the government, Zaw Min Tun claimed that security has been provided around the airport and that the KNPP and PDF are to blame for the mayhem in Loikaw by using artillery to bombard the city and the vicinity of the airport.
Since the military took over, there have been numerous battles in Kayah between the army and neighbourhood anti-government guerrillas close to the 54th Light Infantry Battalion of the government’s base, which is situated south of the airport. Last Christmas, according to state-run media, the KNPP and PDF fired four 107mm rockets at a passenger airliner operated by Myanmar National Airlines, but no one was hurt in the explosion that occurred 2,000 metres (1.2 miles) east of the airport.
Another ethnic rebel group, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, had previously warned against taking Myanmar National Airlines because it is government-owned and that the military uses its profits to fund its fighters.
The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force information officer described the government’s claim regarding Friday’s shooting as “nothing more than defamatory propaganda against the revolutionary forces by the Military Council,” speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect his personal safety.
“Infantry battalions and high security zones surround the runway and the surroundings around the airfield. So, to claim that the airliner was assaulted by PDFs is merely an accusation,” he said.
