Unidentified attackers fire on Myanmar junta airbase in Meiktila Township

Rockets hit the Myanmar military's Shan Te airbase in Meiktila Township, Mandalay Region in the pre-dawn hours on Monday, according to local sources who said they heard explosions but did not know the extent of the damage. Residents of the township said they could hear around 10 rocket shells detonating as they landed inside the airbase, which is located some seven miles northeast of Meiktila near Shan Te village, at around 3am. “The airbase is close to the Light Infantry Division (LID) 99 base. The airbase is located separately outside the city, but there’s Shan Te village and other small villages nearby,” a man living near the airbase said at noon on Monday. “So far, we haven’t heard of any damage to the villages.” He added that the airbase is also located near artillery bases, a military-owned Directorate of Defence Industries munitions factory, and an air defence base, as well as the LID 99 base. According to a former officer who defected from the military to join the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement following the coup, the weapons used in the attack included fixed-wing, ‘kamikaze’ drones as well as 107mm rocket shells. Fighters of the Freedom Revolution Force, a Sagaing Region-based resistance group that attacked the Tada-U airbase near Mandalay in April of this year (Photo: FRF) As of Monday afternoon, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and details about the extent of damage caused and the targets of the assault remain unconfirmed. Posts on pro-junta propaganda Telegram channels have also reported that an attack occurred at the Shan Te airbase. After the attack, locals reportedly found more than 10 fixed-wing drones in at least eight different places near the Shan Te base, including cemeteries and villages along the old Yangon-Mandalay road in Meiktila Township. There were no reported casualties or damage to buildings or infrastructure. Nonetheless, junta personnel have tightened security in Meiktila following the attack, searching vehicles entering the town from both the Yangon-Mandalay expressway and old Yangon-Mandalay road, according to a driver travelling between cities. “They're checking IDs and searching passengers at the city entrance, and there are a lot of small security checkpoints all through the city,” he said. Citing his contacts in his hometown, a Meiktila resident living in Naypyitaw said civilians in Meiktila were staying home and reluctant to discuss the airbase attack by phone due to the heightened security and surveillance there. Although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, similar attacks on junta targets have occurred repeatedly, and the use of rockets is common for resistance groups. Resistance fighters specifically favour 107mm rocket shells, which can be fired with batteries and without the use of a launchpad. 107mm rockets first drew attention in Myanmar when an alliance of ethnic armed organisations used them in an attack on the military’s officer training academies in Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay Region in 2019. Attacks using similar rockets became widespread following the military coup of 2021 and proliferation of anti-coup resistance groups around the country. They are still used in assaults on military bases and facilities that are comparatively difficult to attack with drones due to heightened security, such as the rocket attacks on the Aye Lar airbase in Naypyitaw in April of this year. Resistance groups also claimed responsibility for firing on a military academy in Pyin Oo Lwin earlier that month. An urban guerrilla group in Mandalay also fired on the Mandalay Palace—where the military’s Central Regional Military Command is located—using 107mm rocket shells in September of this year. With its several bases and heavy military presence, Meiktila Township has historically been a stronghold of the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) but nonetheless delivered a majority for civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party in Myanmar’s 2020 general election.

Unidentified attackers fire on Myanmar junta airbase in Meiktila Township

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