Anti-regime fighters shoot down Myanmar junta fighter jet: KNDF

The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) claimed on Thursday to have shot down a junta warplane over Hpasawng Township, Karenni (Kayah) State, causing the deaths of both men on board. The fighter jet was flying towards Hpasawng, Karenni State, with the apparent aim of conducting an airstrike on the KNDF-controlled town, located around 16 miles from the Thailand-Myanmar border in southern Karenni State. “Our frontline positions have heavy machine guns at the ready, including point-fives and point-eights, which use to fire on junta warplanes when they fly over,” KNDF spokesperson Tar El Soe told Myanmar Now. “Along with debris from the smashed fighter jet, the bodies of two airmen have apparently been found,” he added. Karenni anti-junta forces have downed three junta fighter jets and one helicopter since 2023, according to Tar El Soe. KNDF deputy commander-in-chief Maui confirmed in a Thursday social media post that “it was the Karenni forces who shot down the fighter jet.” Regime-run media did not acknowledge that any of the military’s aircraft had been shot down. They instead claimed on Thursday that controllers had lost track of a fighter jet from the radar on Tuesday morning some 130 kilometres southeast of Naypyitaw, and attributed the disappearance to weather or a mechanical failure. 130 kilometres is less than the distance between Naypyitaw and Hpasawng, but the direction indicates the plane may have been on a flight path towards Hpasawng, and may have disappeared from radar while adjacent to or inside Karenni State. The Myanmar military also lost aircraft in May and June that had been downed by anti-junta groups, first losing a helicopter targeted by Kachin Independence Army in the north and then a fighter jet brought down by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in central Myanmar.

Anti-regime fighters shoot down Myanmar junta fighter jet: KNDF

Two junta airmen were reportedly killed when a Karenni resistance group based near the Thailand-Myanmar border downed their plane

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