Karenni People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF) spokesperson Comrade Lawrin Soe said that seven Military council members, including an officer, were killed and two were injured when a military council helicopter was shot down in Far Song Township in Karenni State today (May 6). “The crash site is far away. To the east of the Pong River, I went near the Balkhei. MI 2 I think. They said MI 2 (attack helicopters),” said Comrade Lawrin Soe, who is also the KNPLF’s Joint Secretary General.
Today (May 6) at 11:45 a.m., the Military Council helicopter was shot down by Karenni forces with two Point (8) launchers, and the helicopter crashed in Bolakhei township, the KNPLF informed. Comrade Lawrin Soe confirmed that in the military council helicopter crash, two majors of the military council army, one pilot captain, and four other ranks, a total of 7 people were killed and two were injured.
“It’s an attack plane. I don’t know exactly whether the injured patients were brought to Pha Song or the officers brought them back,” he said. The military council army took air cover to the crash site, and the helicopter wreckage, the bodies of the military council, Comrade Lawrin Soe explained that the wounded were taken away. The MI 2 attack helicopter that crashed today was made in Poland and was piloted by a single pilot and could carry 8 or 10 people.
In the 2 minutes and 8 seconds video footage released by the KNPLF Strategy (1) of the downing of the helicopter, soldiers are seen firing with 8-point automatic rifles. However, the video footage does not show that the helicopter crashed. The Pha Song PDF official said, “A helicopter fell. 2 was able to shoot down a helicopter. We were surrounded by two jet fighters so that we could not get close to the crashed helicopter,” he said.
It is also known that the helicopter came as a reinforcement to the last remaining Kha Lah Yah (134) and Kha Lah Yah (135) in Phasong town of Karenni region. He also said that the Karenni National People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF) strategy (1) shot down a helicopter that was coming to Pha Song along the Pong River.
The MI-2 helicopters are manufactured by Russia and Poland. On June 14, 2016, a plane crashed in Dai Oo Township, Bago Province, next to the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway, and the pilot died. After the military coup, a total of 8 helicopters were shot down by the revolutionary forces, and 3 were shot down by the Karenni forces.
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