The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) claims it shot down a Myanmar Air Force jet carrying out retaliatory airstrikes against its forces before it crashed into a monastery in Sabarse village of Pale Township, Sagaing Region, on Tuesday.
The regime blamed a “technical malfunction” for the jet’s crash. Pale is located 39 miles (62 km) southwest of the region’s capital Monywa, where the regime’s Northwestern Regional Military Command (RMC) is headquartered.
Ni Ni Kyaw, the PLA General Secretary, confirmed the claim to DVB but didn’t disclose the exact number of casualties. PLA forces have been attempting to seize the regime’s police station in Kandaung village of Pale Township since June 2.
The regime has carried out 764 air and artillery attacks since it declared a temporary ceasefire on April 2. It has killed at least 583 people in 904 attacks since the March 28 earthquake. On June 1, Naypyidaw extended its ceasefire until the end of the month with no commitment to extend the truce any further.
The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) confirmed to DVB that its armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), shot down one of three regime logistics helicopters en route to its Military Operations Command (MOC 21) headquarters located in Bhamo Township, Kachin State, on May 20.
The PLA was the armed wing of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) up until 1989 when both the CPB and the PLA were disbanded. Following the 2021 military coup, the PLA was reformed and has fought alongside resistance forces in northern Shan, Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway and Tanintharyi regions, according to PLA spokesperson Ni Ni Kyaw.
*This story was updated at 18:23 ICT on June 10.
