A Burmese fighter jet crashed into a temple after it was reportedly shot down by resistance fighters in Myanmar.

The aircraft plunged from the sky after being peppered with gunfire from the People's Liberation Army in Sagaing on June 10.

It plunged into a village temple, setting the structure ablaze. Two pilots onboard were said to have been killed.

Footage shows a huge smoke cloud billowing as fire ripped through the building. Metal debris believed to be from the fallen plane were scattered along the street.

The People's Liberation Army said it had shot down the jet, but the Burmese junta claimed it experienced an engine failure.

The clash came three weeks after the Kachin Independence Army downed two military helicopters in Kachin on May 20.

The choppers were said to have smashed into a forest near Bhamo. Kachin Independence Army (KIA) troops claimed they found at least seven dead soldiers in the charred wreckage that crashed near the bank of the Irawaddy River.

Myanmar has fallen into civil war following the removal of democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, with a military coup in 2021.

Soldiers responded with barbaric force on protesting civilians leading to widespread condemnation and financial sanctions. Rebel groups and civilian militias around the country have since been locked in a series of ongoing clashes with the ruling military.

Aung San Suu Kyi has since been jailed for 33 years on politically motivated charges and is likely to die behind bars unless the army is toppled - a tragic end the politician hailed by Barack Obama as an 'inspirational icon of democracy'.