Locals from at least four villages in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, have reported that wild elephants are devouring and damaging their paddy fields.

Women living at camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State are reportedly in need of contraceptive pills and sanitary pads.

Arakan State’s agriculture industry has suffered significant setbacks this year, including an anticipated drop in the state’s rice production, making it necessary to take special care to ensure domestic food security, according to an official from the Arakan Farmers’ Union.

A Grade 10 student was injured when an artillery shell landed and exploded in Hsinmakyaw Village, part of Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township, on October 29, according to the village administrator.

Six elderly men were abducted by the military in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, at about 2 p.m. on Saturday, according to local residents.

Myanmar’s military regime has blockaded roads in northern Maungdaw Township since August following escalating military tensions with the Arakan Army (AA), and affected residents say they now even require approval from their village administrators and nearby police stations to travel locally.

Sittwe residents are calling for arrangements to be made to ensure that the public is not at risk after the drowning of three children at View Point Beach in the Arakan State capital.

An annual pagoda festival at Bay Ngar Rar Mountain near Yoke Tayoke Village in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township will not be held this year due to ongoing fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA), according to the pagoda board of trustees.

Family members say they have not been in contact with two men from Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township for about a month, after they were arrested on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army (AA).

Activists organised a campaign against a China-backed deep-sea port project in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township on October 27.

Family members say they have not been in contact with 13 Arakanese from Haigyi Island in Ayeyarwady Region for more than a month, after they were arrested on suspicion of having links to the Arakan Army (AA).

Eighteen people who were detained by Malaysian authorities during a raid on the office of the Arakan Refugee Relief Committee (ARRC) in Kuala Lumpur earlier this month have been released. A 16-year-old girl, however, remains detained. 

A 68-year-old man from Inndin Village in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township has reportedly been missing since October 26.

The Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF) has reached a deal to send 200,000 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh, of which Arakan State will supply 2,500 tonnes, according to U Than Shwe, chairman of the Arakan State Rice Millers Association.

A Muslim cleric in Phokhaung Chaung Village, part of Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township, was injured by a junta artillery strike at about 6 p.m. on October 27, according to family members and the villager administrator.

More than 1.6 million people in Myanmar have been displaced over the past 18 months, since last year’s military coup, according to the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar.

Forty-six Muslims attempting to leave Arakan State for work opportunities in Malaysia were arrested by regime authorities in Gwa Township on Wednesday morning.

Of four employees from the Department of Agricultural Land Management and Statistics Department in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu, two have been released, but the two others remain under military detention.

Correspondent students from Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Rathedaung and Pauktaw townships attending Sittwe University say they are unable to return home as Myanmar’s military regime has blockaded both land and water routes in northern Arakan State.