Mandalay Airport Halts Flights After Drone Attack by Rebels
Flights at the airport serving Myanmar's second-largest city were suspended after a drone attack by pro-democracy rebels, with no casualties reported.
Flight operations at the international airport serving Myanmar's second-largest city have been suspended following a drone attack by rebels battling the military in the country's long-running civil war.
Myanmar Airways International announced on its official Facebook page late on Thursday that all international flights to and from Tada-U International Airport in Mandalay had been temporarily halted. Domestic services are being moved to a nearby airport until further notice, which the airline attributed to "operational reasons".
An official at the carrier's Bangkok office said flights to Mandalay on September 11 and 12 had been cancelled because the airport was closed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
State-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported that security forces foiled an attack by the People's Defence Force, a pro-democracy militant group, which fired six first-person-view suicide drones at the airport. The newspaper said the attack briefly disrupted some domestic flights, and that no casualties or damage to vehicles or runways were reported.
Local media reported that resistance forces were targeting military fighter jets stationed at the airport. The situation could not be independently verified.
Myanmar has been mired in conflict since the February 2021 coup that removed an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering a nationwide resistance movement that has grown into a civil war pitting the military against a range of armed ethnic groups and pro-democracy militias.
In April, former junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was elected president by a military-backed parliament, cementing his hold on power after five years of army rule.