https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/M...-taps-Russian-air-power-to-bomb-ethnic-rebels
The skies above Myanmar's hinterlands have thundered from Russian-made jets over the past three weeks as they bomb strongholds of ethnic rebels along the country's borders with China and Thailand. On other nights, witnesses say, Russian-made attack helicopters shattered the silence and lit up the sky.
In the country's north, the Kachin Independence Army has borne the brunt of the bombing raids this week, according to local media reports. The military, which is also known as the Tatmadaw, is using ground forces and airstrikes to reclaim the strategic Alaw Hill near the Chinese border in Kachin State, which was seized last month by the KIA, The Irrawaddy news website reported.
The Myanmar military's use of such heavy firepower in rural areas controlled by various armed ethnic groups is meant to send a clear message to all that live there: The junta is in control and any resistance to the coup of Feb. 1 will be met with extreme force.
"They want to demonstrate that they can do anything, and can bomb anywhere the Karen people live," said a source close to a senior leader of the Karen National Union, the political wing of the Karen National Liberation Army, the oldest of Myanmar's 20 ethnic armed groups.
"The civilians feel terrorized by the airstrikes," the source told Nikkei Asia, speaking from KNU-held territory near the Myanmar-Thai border.
The skies above Myanmar's hinterlands have thundered from Russian-made jets over the past three weeks as they bomb strongholds of ethnic rebels along the country's borders with China and Thailand. On other nights, witnesses say, Russian-made attack helicopters shattered the silence and lit up the sky.
In the country's north, the Kachin Independence Army has borne the brunt of the bombing raids this week, according to local media reports. The military, which is also known as the Tatmadaw, is using ground forces and airstrikes to reclaim the strategic Alaw Hill near the Chinese border in Kachin State, which was seized last month by the KIA, The Irrawaddy news website reported.
The Myanmar military's use of such heavy firepower in rural areas controlled by various armed ethnic groups is meant to send a clear message to all that live there: The junta is in control and any resistance to the coup of Feb. 1 will be met with extreme force.
"They want to demonstrate that they can do anything, and can bomb anywhere the Karen people live," said a source close to a senior leader of the Karen National Union, the political wing of the Karen National Liberation Army, the oldest of Myanmar's 20 ethnic armed groups.
"The civilians feel terrorized by the airstrikes," the source told Nikkei Asia, speaking from KNU-held territory near the Myanmar-Thai border.
