Residents who have fled the fighting in Kayah State capital Loikaw say they are gravely concerned about the safety of those left behind as well as the fate of the town as fighting between junta and resistance troops for control of Loikaw intensifies.
Volunteers are urging residents to flee Loikaw, saying the situation is deteriorating at an alarming rate.
“Communication lines have been cut off. Water is not available due to power outages. We also can’t find fuel,” one volunteer said. “The General Hospital was shut down about two days ago [and] some patients were transported to Taunggyi by volunteers,” he added.
Fighting continues to rage in Loikaw, but some key locations are now under resistance control, according to the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF). The KNDF, Karenni Army and Karenni National People’s Liberation Front launched a joint offensive on November 11 – Operation 11.11 – to drive junta troops from the state capital.
A Loikaw resident who fled to southern Shan state said she worries about her parents who insisted on staying at their home in Loikaw’s Law Dhamma ward, a two-minute drive to downtown where intense fighting continues.
“Clashes are breaking out in the downtown areas. We want to make sure that my parents are safe, but we could not contact them,” she said. She and her two siblings fled Loikaw town on Wednesday morning and are taking refuge in Nyaung Shwe Township in southern Shan State.
She fled Loikaw to get medical help for a relative. “I left my home yesterday because my grandma needs to seek medical attention for her broken leg,” the 28-year-old woman said.
Some Loikaw residents, especially the poorest, have no choice but to stay in their homes or move to monasteries and churches.
“Some [residents] moved to Nam Baw Wan and Daw Tan Ma wards because there is no fighting in those areas yet,” a volunteer said.
A resident of Law Da Ma ward said hundreds of people are sheltering in a community hall in the ward.
At least seven residential wards in Loikaw have been struck by indiscriminate shelling and airstrikes from the regime’s military, residents and volunteers said.
About 70 people, including 10 children, in Kayah State have been killed by indiscriminate shelling, airstrikes and shootings from junta troops since November 11, according to the Karenni Humanitarian Aid Initiative, a local volunteer group.
“Many houses, monasteries and churches were burned down or damaged by junta shelling and airstrikes. Daw Au Khu, Nar Nat Taw, Naung Yar and Nant Kut wards are the worst-hit areas,” a Loikaw resident said.
As fighting intensifies in Loikaw, many residents who fled say they worry that the junta may destroy their town.
“I hope that my home is still standing when I return to Loikaw and I also hope that my hometown doesn’t face the same fate as Thantlang town,” said a Loikaw resident who fled the fighting.
Chin State’s Thantlang was incinerated by junta shelling and arson attacks. About 10,000 residents of the town have been displaced since September 2021. Before the military coup, it was a peaceful mountaintop town near the border with India in Chin State.
