An internally displaced person (IDP) from Buddhawmaw Monastery in the Arakan State capital Sittwe is currently receiving medical treatment after he was tortured during military interrogation, according to family members.

U San Ko, an Arakanese composer and owner of the Arakan Ar Mahn bus gate in Arakan State’s Thandwe, who was charged under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act earlier this month, appeared in court on Thursday. 

Thousands of children at camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Bago Region’s Shwegyin Township have had their access to education jeopardised or cut off completely due to fighting between the military and an anti-regime coalition led by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

Myanmar’s military regime has imposed limits on the amount of fuel, cement and pharmaceuticals that ferry boats operating on the Sittwe-Pauktaw route can carry from the former to the latter, according to boatmen and passengers. 

A six-month-old baby girl from Jeitchaung Village, Maungdaw Township, who was severely injured by mortar strikes on November 16, succumbed to shrapnel wounds at Maungdaw Hospital on November 22. 

Since renewed fighting erupted between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) in August, 23 houses were razed by artillery strikes and junta arson attacks in Arakan State.

More than 10,000 local people from Darletchaung Village-tract in Ann Township are facing food shortages and rising food prices as the Myanmar military has imposed a ban on food supplies into the area.

About 10 female students reportedly suffered sudden-onset breathing problems while attending class at the basic education high school in Kywe Te Village, Mrauk-U Township, and were rushed to the local hospital.

A Khami New Year event was observed on Wednesday at the Town Hall in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U, where the number of people in attendance was reportedly low due to ongoing concerns about the regional security environment and travel barriers.

Junta troops carried out an air attack on Taung Kalay Village in Mon State’s Kyaikmaraw Township after the combined forces of the Kaw Thoo Lei Army (KTLA) and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Battalion 16 seized a junta police outpost at the village early Monday morning.

Eight men from two villages in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township, who had been detained by the military for more than a week, were reportedly released at about 4 p.m. on November 21. 

The Paletwa Township Court has sentenced a 100-household head and a 10-household head to three years in prison for incitement under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, according to legal sources close to the matter. 

Twelve residents were killed and at least 27 others were injured when three mortar shells landed and exploded in Jeitchaung Village, Maungdaw Township.

The military regime’s Arakan State Administration Council (ASAC) says every preparation has been made for implementation of the Ponnagyun industrial zone, which was first proposed some seven years ago.

A resurgence in fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) is bringing attendant rises in the numbers of civilian deaths and amputations due to heavy weapons fire and landmine encounters.

At least 70 civilians were killed or injured by artillery strikes, gunfire and a landmine encounter blamed on Myanmar’s military regime over a one-week period from November 10-16 in Arakan State and neighbouring Paletwa Township, Chin State.

Local farmers in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, who have fled their homes in fear of junta artillery strikes, are planning to ask the township General Administration Department (GAD) to allow them to harvest their paddy fields safely.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) at a camp in a Ponnagyun Township industrial zone have reportedly fled to safer locations, prompted to uproot their lives again by a recent shelling nearby. 

The Myanmar military regime’s recent release of dozens of political prisoners and members of ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) serving time in prisons across the country has been widely viewed as an effort to boost the junta’s badly damaged image as it looks to establish credibility ahead of planned elections next year.