Fighters’ drones target capital
OPPONENTS of army rule in Myanmar said yesterday they carried out drone attacks on two military targets in its capital, Naypyitaw, attacks which, if confirmed, would be a major blow to the image of a junta struggling to govern.
Reuters could not independently confirm the information and the military government could not immediately be reached. State-controlled and military-run media outlets carried no news of the reported incident.
The National Unity Government (NUG), an alliance of anti-junta groups formed to challenge military rule in the wake of a 2021 coup, announced co-ordinated drone attacks on two military installations, but provided no details on the drones or weapons used, or whether the targets sustained any damage.
“The synchronised drone operations were simultaneously executed against Naypyitaw, targeting both the headquarters of the terrorist military and Alar Air Base,” the NUG said. “Preliminary reports suggest there were casualties.”
If confirmed, the incident could dent the credibility of a well-equipped military that regards itself as the sole protector of Myanmar’s sovereignty, as it faces its biggest test since first taking control of the former British colony in 1962.
Naypyitaw is the seat of power for the military government and home to much of its defence hardware, built in a remote area of central Myanmar about two decades ago by the previous junta that had ruled for more than two decades. The junta has been fighting on multiple fronts to try to contain uprisings around the country and stabilise an economy that has wilted since the coup.
Myanmar is locked in a civil war between the military on one side and, on the other, a loose alliance of ethnic minority rebels and an armed movement which emerged in response to the junta’s bloody crackdown on anticoup protests.
The military has been accused by Western governments of systematic atrocities and excessive use of air strikes and artillery in civilian areas..
A spokesperson for the NUG’s armed affiliate in Naypyitaw, the People’s Defence Force said it carried out yesterday’s attack under the instruction of the NUG’s defence ministry.