Myanmar jungle rebels struggle for cash and guns

This handout from the Karen National Union (KNU) taken on January 31, 2019 and received on April 4, 2021 shows soldiers taking part in a parade for the 70th anniversary of the Karen revolution at a remote base on the Thai-Myanmar border, as ten of Myanmar's major rebel groups including the KNU threw their support behind the country's anti-coup movement. - AFP

Kayah State (Myanmar), Dec 6, 2021 (AFP): Young anti-coup recruits line up at a secret camp in Myanmar, hands behind their heads and stomachs braced, waiting for a drill instructor to deliver a punch to toughen them up for their fight against the military.

Since the February coup, dozens of "people's defence forces" (PDFs) have sprung up across the South-East Asian country to fight back against the generals' putsch and bloody crackdown.