Qualla: Battle of Loikaw (2022)

Battle of Loikaw (2022): Introduction

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

By January 2022, the residents of Loikaw already knew what war sounded like. They had lived through the first battle the previous summer, endured an uneasy ceasefire, and watched the violence creep back through autumn. But nothing had prepared them for what came next. When the Tatmadaw launched a full-scale offensive on 6 January, it brought airstrikes -- a rare escalation in Kayah State -- and a determination to retake the capital at any cost. Within weeks, 75 percent of Loikaw's population had fled. The hospital relocated to Taunggyi. The city, for all practical purposes, ceased to function.

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Battle of Loikaw (2022): The Assault Begins

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The offensive opened on 6 January 2022, continuing the fighting that had flared in late December 2021. Junta forces struck from multiple directions, pushing into neighborhoods where KNDF and PDF fighters had embedded themselves among the civilian population. Near the KNPP headqua...

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Battle of Loikaw (2022): Ward by Ward

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The fighting in January moved through Loikaw's neighborhoods like a slow fire. On 8 January, airstrikes continued as combat raged in Minelon Ward and Pankan. The KNDF claimed thirty junta soldiers killed that day, including a major, along with damage to a tank and a helicopter. R...

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Battle of Loikaw (2022): Bodies in the Wards

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On 21 January, residents discovered thirteen bodies in Myung Ward. An NGO reported that the area remained an active combat zone, making recovery dangerous. Throughout Loikaw Township, the violence touched civilians who had nothing to do with the fighting. On 29 January, a family ...

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Battle of Loikaw (2022): A City That Empties

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The offensive displaced more than 90,000 people across Loikaw Township -- roughly half the population of Kayah State. Most fled toward Shan State, joining a river of refugees that had been growing since the first battle in May 2021. On 1 February, exactly one year after the coup,...

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Battle of Loikaw (2022): The Longest War

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Karenni people have been fighting for autonomy since 1949, making theirs one of the world's longest-running insurgencies. But the battles for Loikaw in 2021 and 2022 represented something new: not a guerrilla campaign in remote jungle, but sustained urban warfare for a state ...

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