A dense bamboo forest in rebel-held territory surrounds the training ground in eastern Myanmar where more than 100 young people, mostly in their 20s, are undergoing rigorous military drills.

From former chefs to ex-journalists, rappers and poets, people from all walks of life have joined the resistance movement with a single goal: to overthrow the military regime that seized power in the Southeast Asian nation in 2021.

The Bamar People's Liberation Army (BPLA), led by onetime anti-war poet Maung Saungkha, is a prominent force in Myanmar's resistance movement.