Two Myanmar airbases have come under attack, with blasts reported at one base and rocket fire seen at another, media and a witness said.
The attacks, carried out by unidentified attackers on Thursday, come after three months of turmoil in Myanmar triggered by a February 1 military coup. There was no claim of responsibility or any confirmation of casualties in the attacks.
The military has not responded to requests for comments.
In the first attack on Thursday, there were three blasts at an airbase near the central town of Magway in the early hours, the Delta News Agency reported in a post on Facebook.
Security checks were stepped up on roads outside the base after the blasts, the news portal said.
Later, five rockets were fired at one of the country’s main airbases, at Meiktila, to the northeast of Magway, reporter Than Win Hlaing, who was near the base at the time, said in a post.
He also posted a video clip that included the sound of what appeared to be a rocket flying overhead followed by a blast. The video clip could not be independently verified.
There have also been reports of the government forces launching fresh attacks on Thursday against ethnic rebels in Karen and Kachin states, according to AFP news agency.
The Karen National Union (KNU), one of the most prominent, has been among the military government’s most vocal opponents – blasting the coup leaders for violence against anti-coup protesters.
Clashes with the military in KNU’s territory along the eastern border have increased since the February coup, with the military government deploying air assaults last month – the first instance in Karen state in more than 20 years.
While the armed forces have been battling rebels in frontier regions for decades, attacks on such high-profile military facilities in central areas have been rare.
