Myanmar army says a transport helicopter has crashed in a combat zone due to malfunction
BANGKOK (AP) — A helicopter belonging to Myanmar’s military crashed in a combat zone in the country’s north while returning from a mission to deliver supplies to army outposts, a state-run newspaper reported Wednesday.
The report from Myanma Alinn said the transport helicopter crashed in Kachin state was due to a technical fault. However, one of the armed ethnic minority groups fighting against the army has reportedly claimed responsibility for shooting it down.
The report said search and recovery efforts were underway.
It said the crash took place shortly after some army transport helicopters delivered what was described as administrative supplies for soldiers at frontline posts in Kachin’s Bhamo township, about 280 kilometers (175 miles) northeast of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city.
The military government’s version of the events was first broadcast on state television Tuesday night, hours after independent online news outlets reported that a powerful ethnic Kachin armed group and allied pro-democracy fighters had shot down one of three army helicopters.
The websites of Myanmar Now and the Kachin-based MyitKyina News Journal cited a spokesperson of the Kachin Independence Army saying its forces hit two helicopters, with one of them crashing in a forest in the town of Shwegu while the other made an emergency landing nearby.
Other Kachin outlets published photos and videos of the alleged helicopter’s burnt and scattered wreckage, as well as a dead pilot.
Claims of shooting down aircraft are difficult to independently confirm, because of tight restrictions on the media and the remoteness of where much combat takes place.
Myanmar was plunged into nationwide armed conflict after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021. Border areas such as Kachin have sporadically been at war for decades, as the minorities living there have sought more autonomy.
The Kachin Independence Army is one of the stronger ethnic armed groups, capable of manufacturing some of their own weapons, and whose fighters are battle-hardened from years of resistance.
The Kachin group is on good terms with the armed militias of the pro-democracy movement, known as the People’s Defense Force, that was formed to fight military rule after the 2021 army takeover. The two forces have fought side by side against the army not only in Kachin, but also in the nearby Sagaing region
Myanmar’s military has lost at least five helicopters and three jet fighters since it seized power. Resistance forces have several times claimed to have downed military aircraft but their claims could not be confirmed.
Most combat aircraft in Myanmar’s military come from China or Russia, which also supply other armaments. Many Western nations maintain an arms embargo and other sanctions against the ruling military.