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  • 2021-10-06 (xsd:date)
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  • Old photos shared in misleading posts about 'female anti-coup fighters in Myanmar' (en)
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  • Three photos of women in military clothing have been shared in Facebook posts that claim they are young women training to fight the Myanmar junta that seized power in February's coup. The claim is false; the images were taken before the coup, and have circulated online since at least 2020. Although they are young and gentle, these brave women are training hard to be able to fight with the men, reads a Burmese-language Facebook post published on September 26 and shared more than 1,300 times. The photos appear to show young women in military clothing taking part in exercises. Screenshot taken on September 30, 2021 of the misleading post The post links to a blog article that claims, Many youths who are joining the PDF forces are educated, young people. There are not only brave young men but also brave young women in the forces. Myanmar has been in turmoil after the military seized control in February from a democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The junta's continued violence toward pro-democracy protestors prompted some to join anti-junta militia known as the People's Defence Force . The photos have been shared in similar posts here , here , here and here . However, the claim is false. Reverse image searches on Google shows that the images were previously shared here in a Facebook post on April 21, 2020. Below is the screenshot comparison of the images in misleading posts (left) and in the Facebook post from 2020 (right). Screenshot comparisons of the images from the misleading post (L) to the images from 2020 (R) The Facebook post's caption reads: SHAN/SNA #TaiYaiSoldier. SNA refers to the Shanni Nationalities Army , while Tai Yai refers to the Shan ethnic minority group from northern Myanmar. This article published by Myanmar news outlet Irrawaddy in October 2009 outlines some of the different ethnic groups in the region. For decades, there has been armed conflict between ethnic rebels groups and the military in Myanmar. It is not uncommon for ethnic militias to recruit women into their forces. This AFP article published on April 17, 2019 explains how female fighters contribute to some ethnic militia. (en)
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