Myanmar military deploys ‘kamikaze drones’ in southern Shan State

The junta deployed several drones equipped with bombs during attacks this week in Hsihseng Township, southern Shan State, according to the Pa-O National Liberation Organisation/Army (PNLO/A), which took control of the area in January. In a statement released on Wednesday, the PNLA said that one day earlier, the military fired on the township around 100 times using artillery and “kamikaze drones,” named as such because they are operated so that they make contact with their targets and explode. The ethnic armed organisation did not state if there had been any civilian casualties in the assaults. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has admitted that his troops suffered major losses in northern Shan State late last year when an ethnic Ta’ang, Kokang, and Rakhine armed alliance launched an offensive called Operation 1027 against his forces, regularly using “agricultural drones” produced in China to strike Myanmar army posts. These unmanned aerial vehicles are typically used to monitor crop production. The military was then believed to have undertaken measures to also engage in drone warfare, with junta information departments publishing photos in December 2023 of domestic weapons factories producing missiles that could be attached to these devices. The drone ‘drop bombs’ produced by junta weapon factories in December 2023 (Supplied) PNLA spokesperson Khun Rein Yan told Myanmar Now that several buildings, including hospitals, were damaged in Tuesday’s drone attacks. The military has also used the armed drones to target resistance forces in the Karenni State capital of Loikaw, more than 30 miles south of Hsihseng, an officer in the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force’s (KNDF) own Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) unit said. “The FPV drones are kamikaze drones,” he said, referring to “first-person view” devices which are navigated with the help of an on-board camera. “They’re especially frightening because a skilled pilot could even maneuver it inside houses.” The KNDF-UAV officer said that some of the drones in question had been seized by his group and were still “hobby grade,” and he speculated that they were purchased from China. Junta troops practice arming drones (Supplied) Hsihseng locals said that the military appeared to be calculating its attacks on the township, restrategising between strikes. The Myanmar army, which holds Sike Khaung village, 11 miles north of Hsihseng town, has also been collaborating with the Pa-O National Army, a militia with which it is allied, to attempt to reclaim the township and drive out the PNLA. Light Infantry Battalions 425 and 426 are stationed north of Sike Khaung in Ban Yin, as well. Hsihseng, along with the townships of Hopong and Pinlaung, make up the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone defined in the military-drafted 2008 Constitution. The PNLA and its allies, including Karenni forces, have also been attacking junta targets in Hopong, less than 15 miles east of the Shan State capital of Taunggyi. The group has claimed that they have had to repair roads in the township that the military destroyed. Pro-junta Telegram channels have reported battles in Hopong on Tuesday in which Karenni resistance fighters were killed, but Myanmar Now has been unable to independently verify the claims. Citing eyewitnesses, a Hopong man told Myanmar Now that on that day, regime soldiers looted civilian homes in Lwei Woh Toke village, where the clashes took place. Locals reportedly issued a complaint to an officer in the military-allied PNA about the theft. “All the residents fled the village during the battle and the military looted the houses and carried away the cupboards and aluminum roofs on two trucks,” the man said, adding that he is anticipating further fighting. “I think it’s only going to get worse. The PNLA said they’re going to fight until the end.” Data compiled by the Pa-O Youth Organisation, a civil society group in southern Shan State, revealed that 47 civilians were killed in military violence in the region between mid-January and early March, and nearly 100,000 people were displaced in Hsihseng, Hopong, and Loilem townships. The displaced persons in southern Shan State have been facing a lack of access to healthcare, and insufficient food and clean water, according to the group.

Myanmar military deploys ‘kamikaze drones’ in southern Shan State

A Pa-O ethnic armed organisation fighting the junta says that the Myanmar army has been flying drones with bombs attached into targets in Hsihseng Township

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