Correspondent students from various townships attending Sittwe University have said they are worried that they might not be able to return home after their exams as Myanmar’s military regime has tightened travel restrictions in northern Arakan State.

The Myanmar military has recently detained three civilians including a school principal in Chin State’s Paletwa Township, according to local residents.

The Myanmar military has reportedly detained three local residents in downtown Kyaukphyu, Arakan State, in recent days.

Civilian casualties were reported in heavy fighting between junta troops and the combined forces of Karen armed groups and resistance groups in Kayin (Karen) State’s Kawkareik Township on Friday. A civilian was killed, and three others were seriously injured by junta artillery strikes, according to locals.

Myanmar’s military regime has tightened travel restrictions in northern Arakan State, where tensions continue to escalate between the military and the Arakan Army (AA).

The Arakan National Party (ANP) has reportedly donated 30 bags of rice to scores of households displaced by fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) in Buthidaung Township.

At least three civilians were killed and 23 others were injured due to landmines and shooting incidents in Arakan State and Chin State’s Paletwa Township last month amid sustained, renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA), according to a DMG tally. 

A man from U Hla Pe Village in Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township was shot and wounded at about 8 p.m. on October 19, and is currently receiving treatment at Buthidaung Hospital, according to local villagers. 

An Arakan Army (AA) military tribunal on Thursday sentenced two of its soldiers to 20 years in prison with hard labour plus flogging for raping a Muslim woman from Buthidaung Township, according to AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha.

Myanmar’s military regime has ordered passenger boat services in Pauktaw Township that operate routes between Pauktaw and the Arakan State capital Sittwe to suspend operations as of Thursday, according to boat owners.

Two detainees and two others who have thus far evaded arrest in Arakan State’s Maungdaw were charged under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act at the Maungdaw Myoma police station on October 16, according to the accused. 

Hundreds of vehicles were trapped along the Asia Highway linking Kawkareik and the border town of Myawaddy in Kayin (Karen) State on October 19 as fighting that first flared on Tuesday night continued the following day. 

Of 16 people recently detained by the military in Ramree Township, Arakan State, 15 have been released, but a local man remains under military detention, according to those released.

At least eight people were killed and 13 others injured in two explosions at notorious Insein Prison in Yangon on Wednesday morning, according to prison sources. Those killed included three prison staff and relatives of political prisoners.

Two residents were injured and some homes were damaged by artillery shell shrapnel in Peinhnechaung and Wethmine villages, on the east bank of the Kaladan River in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township, on Wednesday afternoon. 

A 13-year-old girl was killed by a shelling in Pyainetaw Village, part of Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township, at around 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State have called on Myanmar’s military regime to lift travel bans on local and international nongovernmental organisations.

Schools were closed in Arakan State’s Minbya Township after some locals including a primary school teacher were killed by junta artillery strikes in the township on Monday, according to residents.

A local man from Daingnetpyin (Muslim) Village in Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township was fatally wounded when an artillery shell fell and exploded in the village at about noon on October 18, with the victim reportedly dying at Buthidaung Hospital while receiving medical treatment that evening.