Myanmar airport shut after rebel drone attack

Myanmar’s second-busiest airport was closed for two days on Friday, security sources told AFP, after the military-backed government accused pro-democracy rebels of attacking it with drones.

Mandalay airport is an international and domestic travel hub in central Myanmar, but civilian air raid warning groups also identify it as a runway for military jets launching sorties.

Six “suicide drones” attacked it on Thursday afternoon, the military-backed government said in a statement, causing no casualties but disrupting flight schedules.

However, a security source told AFP on Friday: “Mandalay airport is closed for today and tomorrow.”

“The attack happened some distance from the airport building, but the airport is closed protectively,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

A second security officer working at another Myanmar airport, also requesting anonymity, confirmed that the Mandalay facility would be “closed for maintenance” until Sunday.

Myanmar’s armed forces triggered a civil war by staging a coup in 2021, ending a decade-long experiment with democracy by toppling the government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

After five years of conflict, the military is now on the offensive against the myriad of pro-democracy and ethnic minority guerrilla groups it is battling.

Thursday’s apparent drone raid was a rare acknowledgement of a rebel attack in one of Myanmar’s large urban areas, which have generally remained a stronghold for the military.

The government blamed it on pro-democracy guerrillas who took up arms after the putsch, the main group of which is known as the People’s Defence Forces.

Its statement said the attack was on the airport, which it described as “a non-military, public transportation system”.

It was not possible to verify the civilian or military nature of the attack site, but AFP reporters have in the past seen military aircraft flying over Mandalay airport.

Rebel groups and Myanmar’s military are both now using drones in the civil war, which some monitors say has killed more than 100,000 people.

However, the military’s air force, stocked with Chinese- and Russian-made jets, has proven vital in fending off rebel factions, analysts say.

The air wing has also been accused of targeting civilians at schools, monasteries and public festivals — inflicting mass casualties flagged by rights groups as potential war crimes.

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