Burmese pro-democracy insurgents cross a town deserted after bombings aboard a battered van and make their way to the front lines, determined to capture Loikaw, the state capital, from the hands of the junta.
Fighting has been raging for weeks around Loikaw in eastern Kayah state, where thousands of residents have fled air and artillery attacks and urban fighting.
The junta, in power since the coup in February 2021, remains reeling from the offensive by ethnic minority insurgents along the northern border with China, who have seized several cities and control key trade routes.
The pro-democracy People’s Defense Forces (FDP) in Kayah state are trying to take advantage of this, launching an offensive last month to capture the capital of 50,000 people.
In Loikaw, houses, shops and positions fortified with sandbags were abandoned. The streets were devastated by bomb attacks. According to AFP images, some houses were damaged by artillery fire.
“The army on the defensive”
At the start of the week there was silence in the city, broken only by sporadic artillery fire.
A road leading to Loikaw is controlled by the FDP groups that led the attack.
“At the moment the army is on the defensive,” emphasizes Lin Lin, local chairman of the FDP. “Our soldiers come from Loikaw and that is the main factor of our motivation. We are all doing our best in the hope of returning home.
His contingent, consisting of a dozen young men smoking Burmese cigarettes and cigars, checks their phones and rifles before their leader gives a pep talk about their mission.
Eventually they climb into a battered van that takes them through deserted streets to positions where they face the junta troops.
The army is holed up in the police station and other buildings in Loikaw, Khun Bedu, chairman of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), another insurgent group, said on Friday.
With ground troops immobilized, the army relied on air and artillery attacks, he continues. The army “called for airstrikes against us in many parts of the city last night,” he added, but “we will continue to fight.”
The KNDF released images two weeks ago of its fighters accepting the surrender of junta troops taking refuge in the city’s university.
“Excessive force”
According to the KNDF and the army, the Karenni group and its allies have made several unsuccessful attempts to take over the main prison in Loikaw.
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing acknowledged on Wednesday that the weeks-long attack on Loikaw had shown “excessive force” but insisted the Loikaw region was “under control.”
The attack on Loikaw was spurred by the offensive launched in late October by an alliance of ethnic minority insurgents in northern Shan state, near the Chinese border.
The Arakan Army (AA), the Burma National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) have since occupied dozens of military outposts.
More than 280,000 people have been displaced across Burma due to recent clashes, according to the United Nations.
About 70% of Loikaw’s population has fled in recent weeks, the PDF says, accusing the army of blocking roads and trying to prevent civilians from fleeing.
The United Nations evacuated most of its personnel from Loikaw last month, citing “airstrikes on the town and active fighting” in the streets.
Pro-democracy insurgents remain determined to seize a state capital in what would be a major setback for the beleaguered junta.
“The army has lost a lot of soldiers, it is currently weakened,” says Lin Lin, “we are just afraid of their air strikes.”