Myanmar rebels, villagers destroy poppy crops

LOI CHYARAM VILLAGE, Myanmar (AP) — The rebel soldiers climbing this mountain, rifles at their shoulders, are going into battle not with government forces, but against opium crops that are destroying communities in eastern Myanmar as they succumb to drug addiction.

Captain Glang Dang of the Taang National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Palaung ethnic minority, claims his men are making progress, thanks in part to local villagers, who are helping knock down and burn waves of poppies now in full bloom.