Myanmar resistance group says it hit a military air base at Mandalay airport with drones

Myanmar’s main pro-democracy resistance group said Friday its armed wing launched drone attacks on a military air base that shares a compound with an international airport serving the country’s second-largest city, forcing the airport to shut down.

It was the latest attack in Myanmar’s more than five-year conflict between the military and armed resistance groups that emerged after the army seized power in February 2021, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The takeover sparked peaceful protests nationwide, but after security forces cracked down with lethal force, many local armed resistance groups were formed and loosely organized into what is called the People’s Defense Force, or PDF.

The PDF is the armed wing of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, which considers itself the country’s legitimate administrative body.

Read more: AP