A brief but booming eruption of small and heavy arms fire heard in Kyauktaw town late on Friday afternoon has left locals on edge, according to residents and a member of the Arakan State parliament.

A local man was reportedly injured when an artillery shell landed near Letwei Sartaik village in Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, at about 7 a.m. on April 3, according to family members of the victim.

The wife of a corporal from a Tatmadaw battalion based in Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township was fatally shot on April 3, according to family members and a local lawmaker.

A former Arakan State minister for security and border affairs, Colonel Htein Lin, has been appointed as a peace advisor for the President Office effective May 20.

Prices for basic commodities including rice have soared over recent weeks in Paletwa Township, Chin State, where fighting between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army is being blamed for disrupting supply links with Kyauktaw to the southwest. 

The Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC) reported on March 31 that the number of people internally displaced (IDPs) by conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army has increased to 157,291.

More than 2,000 people have recently fled their homes in Ponnagyun Township due to fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army, according to people providing support to those internally displaced (IDPs).

Five civilians were killed and eight were injured on Wednesday evening when heavy weapons and small arms fire tore through the town of Kyauktaw in Arakan State, according to a local MP and residents. 

The editor-in-chief of the Sittwe-based Narinjara News agency has been charged under a terrorism law and three reporters from the media outlet were questioned for six hours this week at a police station in the Arakan State capital.

A Tatmadaw explanation for the recent death of a man while in its custody — claiming that he killed himself by repeatedly bashing his head against a wall — is not satisfying skeptical family members, whose stubborn adherence to logical thought processes has put them at odds with the official military narrative.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering at Sanyin camp in Arakan State’s Myebon Township are facing food shortages, according to camp official Ashin Thabarwa Nadi.

The government-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that two men were killed and three others were injured by an explosive triggered by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on March 30 in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township.

Aerial munitions hit May Lun and Chaung Net (Chin) villages in Minbya Township at about 4 p.m. on March 30, killing two civilians and injuring two others, said lawmaker U Hla Aung Nyunt, who represents the township in the Arakan State legislature.

Police searched the Narinjara News Agency’s office in Sittwe on Tuesday evening and took three journalists in for questioning, according to the Arakan State-based media outlet.

Migrant workers returning from abroad to some villages in Mrauk-U Township are being forced to stay outside their villages for 14 days as a coronavirus quarantine measure, locals said.

A German national is under quarantine and being monitored for possible coronavirus infection at Thandwe Hospital in Arakan State, according to the state Health Department.

Three civilians were injured in mine explosions near Ma Nyin Taung village in Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township on March 29, with two of the victims seriously wounded, according to their family members.

A fire broke out at Phar Pyo village in Minbya Township, Arakan State, on the night of March 29, with two villagers killed and 11 homes destroyed, said U Hla Aung Nyunt, an MP in the Arakan State legislature representing Minbya Township.

The Arakan State Private Schools Association has reportedly urged private schools, tuition classes and hostels in Arakan State to shut down operations until April 30 due fears of the spread of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.