Arakan Army shot down junta helicopter near Bangladesh border

DE Online Desk
Arakan Army says its fighters shot down a military helicopter during a fierce battle in Chin State’s Paletwa Township from late last year to early this year.
It confirmed the downing several days after posting a photo of fighters standing next to a military chopper’s wreckage.
“We shot down a helicopter during intense fighting in Paletwa Township. It crashed in deep forest near a junta outpost on Pi Mountain. We only found it after seizing the tactical command base on Kankha Mountain [on January 13],” Khaing Thukha told The Irrawaddy.
The two mountains sit on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border north of Paletwa town, located on the border of Chin and Rakhine states. AA captured it after two months of fighting.
Together with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the AA is a member of the tripartite Brotherhood Alliance, which launched a large-scale offensive—Operation 1027—in northern Shan State in late October.
As part of the operation, AA targeted junta troops in Rakhine State in mid-November.
On February 4, AA posted on its Telegram pictures of Brotherhood fighters standing beside a crashed chopper, suggesting that the two other groups are fighting alongside the AA in Rakhine. At the time, the AA did not make any comment and is still silent about details, such as the type of weapons used to shoot it down.
In late January, another military helicopter was shot down by Karen rebels and allied forces in Karen State, killing a brigadier general and four officers, becoming the third junta aircraft downed by resistance forces in a month.
Resistance forces have so far shot down three fighter jets and six choppers.