Kachin fighters bring down junta helicopters near Bhamo

Members of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) claim to have damaged two military helicopters flying near Bhamo, Kachin State with anti-aircraft fire on Tuesday, causing one to crash and forcing the other to make an emergency landing. At around 1pm, three junta helicopters descended over the city of Bhamo, a site of ongoing, intense battles, and came under fire by a combined force of KIA and Kachin People’s Defence Force (Kachin PDF) resistance fighters. Two of the helicopters were hit, causing one to crash in the woods between Bhamo and Shwegu, Kachin State. The other was forced to land a short time after being hit, according to KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu. “One crashed in the forest, and the other made an emergency landing in Shwegu, according to initial reports we've received,” Col. Naw Bu said. The third helicopter reportedly managed to evade fire and leave intact. A local man connected to the KIA confirmed that the helicopters had been hit, citing accounts from resistance drone unit members on the Bhamo frontlines. “One crashed and the other made an emergency landing; they were both hit. But emergency landings in those areas won’t be easy since all those locations are under our control, so the pilot is likely to die,” the source said. The KIA, Kachin PDF, Arakan Army and other allied anti-junta forces have been conducting operations to capture Bhamo since December of last year. Junta forces, having lost control over most of the city’s area and many base camps in its surroundings, are fighting fiercely to repel the armed groups’ assaults and avoid losing Bhamo completely. They have deployed drones, called in airstrikes, and received supplies, weapons, and reinforcements from the regime to enable them to hold the city. On May 8 and 9, junta airstrikes killed 17 internally displaced persons being evacuated by KIA coalition forces and injured more than 30. The KIA has shot down junta aircraft before. Members of the Kachin armed group shot down a helicopter in May 2021 in Kachin State’s Momauk Township. Junta officials publicly acknowledged losing three air force officers in the incident a few days later. Similarly, the KIA shot down a junta fighter jet in January 2024 after it bombed the village of Nam Hpat Kar in Kutkai Township, northern Shan State. Other anti-junta groups have also had success in shooting down junta aircraft, including resistance groups in Karenni (Kayah) State’s Bawlakhe and Hpruso townships. The groups shot down two aircraft in July and November of 2023, capturing the pilot of one fighter jet, a major, as a prisoner of war. The AA also fired on a junta helicopter on its way to the junta’s Western regional command headquarters in the town of Ann, Rakhine State in November 2024, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Magway Region. Scene from the introduction ceremony of newly arrived aircraft and helicopters at Meiktila Air Base on December 15, 2022 (Photo: Junta’s Ministry of Information)

Kachin fighters bring down junta helicopters near Bhamo

Having come under fire by Kachin Independence Army (KIA) forces on the ground, one of the aircraft crashed while the other made an emergency landing in a nearby town

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