Local people in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township are concerned about possible food shortages as the Myanmar military has blocked off the main road linking the township with state capital Sittwe following fighting with the Arakan Army (AA) on Saturday. 

A 2-year-old toddler died and five other civilians were injured on Monday when regime troops fired artillery in response to resistance attacks on junta departments in Kawkareik Township, Kayin (Karen) State, according to locals. 

“If the ministers of the regime’s Arakan State government only indulge in their power and authority against the people, and continue to harm the people just to please the regime … we have previously warned that we would handle [them] accordingly, in accordance with the needs of the situation, our revolution, public security and the Way of Rakhita,” said U Khaing Thukha, spokesman for the Arakan Army, at an online press conference.

Family members said that a woman from Yishin village in Arakan State’s Myebon Township died of her injuries last week after being beaten by a shaman who claimed that she was possessed. 

A woman died and three other people were injured in a road accident on Monday near Kyaukseik village in Ponnagyun Township. 

As a result of Myanmar’s political and economic crises, women are more vulnerable to violence and predation than they were pre-coup, according to Arakanese women’s activists. 

Hundreds of residents who fled their homes for safer locations after the Myanmar military clashed with the Arakan Army in Rathedaung Township over the weekend are reportedly unable to return home. 

Clashes between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) have continued for three consecutive days in Arakan State and Chin State’s Paletwa Township, the AA said on Monday, as some of the latest fighting was reported east of the Kaladan River in Paletwa Township. 

Arakanese farmers say they are facing difficulties replanting paddy fields that have been hard-hit by drought in Arakan state. 

The Myanmar military has blockaded the Angumaw-Maungdaw road since the evening of August 13, said locals and drivers.

The domestic gold price reached a new record high of more than K2.75 million per tical for 24-K gold on Saturday, according to gold shop owners. 

Deforestation of mangroves has increased in Arakan State as a result of power cuts, according to local mangrove conservationists. 

Some 700 residents have reportedly fled their homes for safer locations as the Myanmar military and Arakan Army have been clashing in the Mayu Hills between Rathedaung Township’s Donpaik and Cheinkhali villages, with the hostilities beginning on Saturday morning. 

Six men from Khamaung Seik village in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, have been missing since Friday, according to relatives. 

Four people were injured in a landmine blast on Saturday in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township, with one of the victims said to be in critical condition. 

A member of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) and a civilian were reportedly shot dead in Gyinchaung (Muslim) village, part of Hkwaynyaung village-tract in Maungdaw Township, at around 1:00 a.m. on Saturday. 

Thousands of people have been affected by flooding caused by heavy rains in Mon State’s Ye and Zin Kyaik townships, reported locals. 

Some charities in Dawei, Tanintharyi Region, have suspended operations after fuel prices soared to more than K2,000 per litre. 

The Arakan Army (AA) is carrying out landmine risk education among locals in parts of Arakan State, which is plagued by landmines after some two years of fighting between the military and AA from 2018-2020, according to U Khaing Thukha, spokesman for the ethnic armed group.