Kachin Independence Army shoots down Myanmar military jet in northern Shan State

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that they shot down a junta fighter jet bombing Kutkai Township in northern Shan State earlier that morning. Battles have been breaking out between the KIA and the military since ethnic Kachin forces seized a base held by Infantry Battalion 123 in Namphetka village tract, 30 miles north of Kutkai town, on Monday. The targeted aircraft was hit while carrying out an airstrike, KIA spokesperson Col Naw Bu said. “We still do not know how exactly it crashed, but we are able to confirm that we shot it down and that it was a fighter jet,” he told Myanmar Now. The military council has not released any information regarding the incident. Col Naw Bu also confirmed that a Myanmar military helicopter—the type used to transport supplies—that crashed on January 3 was in fact shot down by the KIA near the ethnic armed organisation’s headquarters in Laiza, Kachin State. The military has relied on aerial bombardments and heavy artillery to attack Laiza, causing heavy civilian casualties in KIA territory. During clashes in early May 2021, the KIA managed to shoot down a junta helicopter between the villages of Myo Thit and Kone Law in Momauk Township, Kachin State, reportedly killing three air force officers, according to a statement issued by the military council. Similarly, a fighter jet belonging to the military was hit by resistance forces in Karenni State’s Hpruso Township in November 2023; the pilot escaped and was captured. Yet another military aircraft was taken down in the Karenni State township of Bawlakhe last July. The KIA has declared its opposition to the coup regime and has been providing support to other anti-junta armed forces founded in response to the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, including those active in upper Sagaing Region, which borders Kachin State.

Kachin Independence Army shoots down Myanmar military jet in northern Shan State

The ethnic armed organisation reportedly targeted the aircraft while it was carrying out an aerial bombardment of the Namphetka area of Kutkai Township

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