Photos: Rebel fighters of Myanmar’s Kokang Region
By CFP, Published: 2015-03-19 20:10:04
A soldier of the Kokang army patrols a field in Kokang region of Myanmar on March 2. There are about 2,000 troops in the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), most of whom are people in their 20s without combat experience. Photo: CFP
Editor's Note:
It has been more than a month since violent conflict between Myanmar government troops and the Kokang army began in northern Myanmar's Kokang region. The clashes gained widespread attention in domestic media after a bomb dropped from a Myanmar warplane killed five Chinese citizens and injured another eight in Lincang, Yunnan Province on March 13.
A drill instructor teaches recruits to sing army songs on a hilltop in the Kokang region of Myanmar on March 2. The MNDAA has recruited more than 100 soldiers in about one month. Photo: CFP 
A Kokang army soldier holds a heavy machine gun while standing on a pickup truck bed traveling on mountain road. Recruits from various backgrounds were marched into battle after receiving only brief training, during which many held a gun for the first time. Photo: CFP 
A MNDAA soldier cleans out his foxhole in the Kokang region of Myanmar on March 2. Kokang troops sleep in gaps between rocks for protection from the mortar shells and bombs. Photo: CFP 
Five veteran soldiers fighting for the MNDAA pose for a picture on a hilltop on March 2. The five men, aged from over 50 to 62, enlisted in the armed ethnic group at an MNDAA base after conflict intensified. They once served in the army of the Communist Party of Myanmar during some of the many ethnic insurgencies that have plagued Myanmar’s history, and later became farmers.
One soldier serving at a Kokang base expressed his concerns about the future. “If we lose the war, I will not live in Kokang anymore,” he said. Photo: CFP
Zhang Guowei, 59, shows a battle wound on his chest. An ex-soldier, Zhang was scarred on his chest and back while fighting during past ethnic insurgencies in Myanmar. The shrapnel lodged in his back still causes him pain. Photo: CFP 
A Kokang army soldier holds shrapnel dug from a shell crater on March 2. Photo: CFP 
A Kokang army company commander (right) monitors enemy movement on a hilltop in Kokang region on March 1. Photo: CFP 
Kokang army soldiers hang leftovers from their meals in plastic bags to be eaten later in the evening. Sometimes battles last for over 10 hours and soldiers have no time to eat. Photo: CFP 
Several soldiers receive treatment at the MNDAA’s temporary hospital on March 2. Photo: CFP 
A Kokang refugee talks with MNDAA soldiers, Kokang region on March 1. The refugees are living near the gate of the Myanmar-China border so that they may escape if fighting intensifies. Photo: CFP 
Banners supporting the MNDAA are pasted on a glass door in a village near the border gate in the Kokang region. Photo: CFP 
A MNDAA soldier fighting near the frontlines of the conflict attempts to get a better phone signal on the top of a mountain in order to contact his family living at a refugee camp. Photo: CFP