MAE SOT – Anti-coup rebels in Myanmar claim to have attacked the Naypyidaw Aela Air Base in the capital Naypyidaw for the fourth time by the Brave Warriors for Myanmar (BWM), while the last major military base, the Pha Sone camp in Myawaddy, was seized by resistance fighters
According to the Yangon Modern News, the air base in Naypyidaw was attacked with five rockets at 4:50 a.m. on April 11, 2024, damaging an aircraft hangar with several planes inside and destroying a Thingyan pavilion under construction for Min Aung Hlaing and the military leaders.
Later, the Mountain Hawk Civilian Defense Force (MKCDF), which is organized by the Brave Warriors for Myanmar (BWM), has claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that the base was attacked because it is the main airbase for dispatching military aircraft to various regions and the main escape point for the military leadership.
“Our main target is the junta’s air force throughout the country. If the air force collapses, we will be able to carry out a revolution. That is why we are fighting the air force with determination. We would like to thank all revolutionary comrades who have supported every operation,” the statement said.
The rebels claim that this was the fourth attack on the Naypyitaw Ayla airfield. Although it is the most heavily guarded airbase, the rebels were still able to carry out the attack on their target.
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This news comes after the Karen National Union (KNU) and the People’s Defense Force (PDF) captured the Pha Sone camp of the Myanmar military’s 275 Light Infantry Battalion in Myawaddy Township.
The resistance claimed to have launched four drones to drop many rounds of bombs on Battalion 275’s Phasong Camp, Myawaddy’s last major Burmese military camp. Then they seized the Phasong camp and took over weaponry such as an artillery grenade launcher and a considerable supply of ammo. More than 200 Myanmar soldiers left the camp and dressed in ordinary clothes.
All Burmese soldiers had taken cover inside the Myawaddy Permanent Border Post No. 2, which was opposite the Mae Sot Permanent Border Post No. 2, prompting Thai soldiers, the Special Task Force Rajamnu, to deploy fully equipped soldiers to surround the Mae Sot Permanent Border Post No. 2 at the foot of the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge.
Meanwhile, people in Myawaddy City moved from the city centre to Mae Sot Permanent Border Checkpoint No. 1, Mae Sot District, Tak Province, to cross the border temporarily.
A Khaosod reporter from Tak Province claimed that Mae Sot Permanent Border Checkpoint No. 1 was overcrowded with Myawaddy people, generating traffic in front of the checkpoint. The majority of the villagers are children, women, and the elderly, who arrived in Mae Sot City as visitors with valid border crossing cards.
Three residents of Myawaddy, who live near Infantry Battalion 275 garrison, told the AP by phone that they took shelter with other locals at Buddhist monasteries near there when fighting intensified on Tuesday.
The residents, said three fighter jets had been bombing the fighting areas and nearby villages, overnight and in the morning.
Two other residents living in Myawaddy, said some townspeople were fleeing into Mae Sot in Thailand, but many others were working as usual despite the fighting on the town’s outskirts.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said in an interview on Thursday that according to the reports he has received, Myawaddy town has not fallen and that this situation is an internal Myanmar issue. He has only instructed the army and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to communicate to Myanmar that any violation of Thai airspace during fighting is unacceptable.
As far as the refugees are concerned, the Foreign Ministry has stated that it can take in 100,000 people and will have to wait and see how far the problem goes.
Air Chief Marshal Phanpakdee Pattanakul, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Air Force, indicated that F-16 jets are ready 24 hours a day and can intercept encroachers in less than 5 minutes.
According to Associated Press, Myawaddy, in Kayin state, is Myanmar’s most active trading post with Thailand, and its fall would be the latest in a series of shock defeats suffered by the army since last October, when an alliance of three other ethnic rebel groups launched an offensive in the country’s northeast.
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- Thai Air Force Deploys F-16 Jets To Protect Mae Sot Airspace.
- Myanmar Army in Myawaddy Asks Thailand to Shelter Its Officials
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