A domestic flight from the capital, Naypyidaw, to Kayah state was hit by bullets at a height of about 1,000 metres (3,280 feet).
Myanmar’s military government has promised to take “serious action” against rebel forces that it has blamed for an attack on a passenger plane that left one person hospitalized and damaged the aircraft’s fuselage.
A passenger on the Myanmar National Airlines domestic flight sustained facial injuries on Friday when bullets passed through the aircraft’s cabin as it prepared to land at Loikaw, the capital of eastern Kayah state, at 8:45 am local time (02:15 GMT). The flight had 63 passengers on board.
“Although the plane was damaged … it landed successfully at Loikaw airport due to the efforts of crews,” government spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun was quoted on Saturday by the State-run Global New Light of Myanmar news outlet.
The injured passenger had received treatment in hospital, said Zaw Min Tun, who described the attack on the civilian aircraft and passengers as “a military crime, a criminal act”.
“What I want to say is that the security forces will take serious action against the perpetrators or groups that launch such brutal attacks,” he said, according to the news outlet.
The plane, flying from the capital Naypyidaw, came under fire at a height of about 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) and about 6km (3.7 miles) north of Loikaw airport, the military government said, blaming fighters from the Karenni National Progressive Party, an ethnic rebel army, for the shooting.
State media released photos it said were of the bullet-damaged plane and the passenger being treated. Myanmar National Airlines’ office in Loikaw announced that all flights to the city were canceled indefinitely.
Kayah state has experienced intense conflict between the Myanmar military and local resistance groups since the army seized power last year, overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
February 1, 2021, military takeover was met with peaceful nationwide protests, but after the army and police killed demonstrators opposing military rule, civilians throughout the country formed armed units as part of a People’s Defence Force (PDF) to fight the military rule.
Thousands have been killed in the fighting and many more jailed by the military.