Myanmar junta opponents launch rocket attack on capital airport
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People's Defence Forces battling Myanmar's junta have been taking swathes of territories, but have yet to make an impact on Naypyidaw.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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YANGON – Opponents of Myanmar’s junta launched a rocket attack on an airport in the capital Naypyidaw but caused no casualties, security sources said on July 17, after a rare breach of the military’s seat of power.
The military’s ouster of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in a 2021 coup sparked renewed fighting with ethnic minority armed groups, as well as with pro-democracy People’s Defence Forces (PDFs).
Two rockets targeted Naypyidaw Airport on the morning of July 16, a security source told Agence France-Presse (AFP), on condition of anonymity.
Two other security sources said one rocket was launched at the airport.
All three sources said the rockets caused no casualties or major damage.
AFP was unable to reach a junta spokesman for comment.
Set amid arid scrubland in the centre of the country, the sprawling military-built city of Naypyidaw is home to the junta’s top brass and civil servants.
With a heavy security presence in the surrounding area, the city has seen relative calm as fighting between the military and its opponents ravages swathes of the country.
In April, PDF groups launched more than a dozen drones
The junta said the attack caused no major damage.
Outgunned and outnumbered, opponents of the junta have increasingly taken drones into their arsenal, with devastating effect.
Many groups operate commercial drones adapted to carry bombs that can be dropped on military positions. AFP
