Myanmar rebels claim drone raid on Mandalay airport; military calls it strike on public travel hub

Pro-democracy guerrilla forces in Myanmar have said they carried out a drone attack on Mandalay International Airport, the country's second-largest aviation hub, claiming they targeted military fighter jets stationed there. The military-backed government said the raid caused no casualties but disrupted flight schedules.

In a statement, the government said six "suicide drones" struck the airport on Thursday afternoon. It described the target as "a non-military, public transportation system".

The People's Defence Forces (PDF), the largest pro-democracy guerrilla group formed after the military's 2021 coup, said it was responsible for the attack. In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the group said its fighters had targeted Russian-made Yak-130 jets kept by the runway, and that three of its members were killed while staging the operation. It accused the government of spreading what it called deceptive propaganda to make it appear that the civilian airport located opposite the airbase had been the target.

A security source told AFP that the airport was closed "protectively" for most of Friday before reopening around 4 p.m. local time (0930 GMT).

The nature of the site could not be independently verified. AFP reporters have in the past seen military aircraft flying over Mandalay airport, and civilian air-raid warning groups in Myanmar frequently identify it as a runway used by military jets launching sorties in the civil war. The airport also handles international and domestic civilian traffic and is a major travel hub for central Myanmar.

Myanmar's military seized power in February 2021, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, a takeover that triggered a nationwide armed resistance and what is now a multi-front civil war. After five years of conflict, the military has moved to the offensive against a range of pro-democracy and ethnic-minority guerrilla groups.

Thursday's apparent drone raid was a rare acknowledged rebel attack in one of Myanmar's large urban areas, which have generally remained a stronghold for the military. Rebels and the military are both now using drones in the conflict, which some monitors say has killed more than 100,000 people.

Analysts say the military's air force, equipped with Chinese- and Russian-made jets, has been vital in fending off opposition factions. The air wing has also been accused by rights groups of targeting civilians at schools, monasteries and public festivals, causing mass casualties that the groups have flagged as potential war crimes.

Claims by both sides in the conflict are difficult to verify independently, and casualty figures cited by monitors, rebel groups and the military have not been confirmed by neutral observers. Reuters and other agencies have not been able to verify the accounts given by either side in this attack.