Myanmar temporarily closes Myitkyina Airport after drone attack

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA)—Myanmar has temporarily closed its Myitkyina Airport in the capital city of Kachin State to flights due to damage sustained after a drone attack last week, the National Defense and Security Council said Tuesday.

"Currently, due to the damage to the apron at the airport, a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) has been issued to temporarily suspend flight operations at Myitkyina Airport," the Council said, according to a statement published in the state-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar.

The armed militia Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and People's Defense Force (PDF), the armed wing of the National Unity Government, attacked a Myanmar National Airlines passenger aircraft with suicide drones at Myitkyina Airport on Feb. 20 while the plane was preparing to depart for Mandalay, causing damage to the front, middle, and rear parts of the aircraft, the council said.

Efforts are being undertaken to resume normal flight operations, the council said.

Ethnic clashes have intensified as the country remains engulfed in civil conflict after the February 2021 military coup.

The 2021 military takeover ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy and plunged the country into more than four years of emergency rule. The state of emergency officially ended last July.

Myanmar also held elections in three phases between Dec. 28 last year and Jan. 25.

More than 6,000 people have been killed and nearly three million displaced since the military takeover due to fighting between the junta and opposition groups, according to rights monitors.