A total of 247 prisoners in Arakan State were released on April 17 and Daw Nyo Aye, chairwoman of the Rakhine Women’s Network (RWN), was among 3,339 prisoners pardoned by the junta.

Maung Thein Soe, 18, was walking to a farm near an abandoned military camp where junta troops were once stationed on April 17 when he stepped on the landmine. 

Junta soldiers and Muslim militiamen trained by the regime are reportedly destroying public property in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State.

The Arakha Army (AA) has been launching attacks on the Tawhein tactical command base near Kazukaing Village in Ann Township since March, with the military responding to the AA’s offensive manoeuvres with heavy weapons including airstrikes.

An artillery shell fired by the No. 5 Border Guard Force based in Maungdaw fell and exploded in Ahtet Kanthayar Village at around 8 p.m. on April 15, villagers said.

Junta battalions, warships and drones attacked Sanae town and nearby villages with heavy weapons from April 10 to April 16, locals said.

Dozens of junta soldiers from the military’s Ann-based Western Command headquarters were ambushed by the AA, a reliable source said.

“A junta jet fighter dropped two 500 pound bombs on four villages. We heard a loud sound eight times. Some fell near the villages while some landed on the hills,” the local man added.

Two men in their 30s from the IDP camp ran away when they were called up to serve in the military, and when junta soldiers threw a grenade at them, they hit two children nearby.

At least 83,746 houses have been damaged or destroyed in junta arson attacks since the February 2021 military coup, according to a report by Data for Myanmar published on Monday.

Regime soldiers abducted U Tun Lwin, in his 50s, from his home in Kyaukphyu’s Ceditaung Ward at about 9 a.m. on Sunday, a family member said.

A Myanmar Navy vessel fired heavy weapons into Ramree town, which is held by the Arakan Army (AA), on April 13 and 14, locals said.

Myanmar’s military regime provided basic military training to members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA) to fight against the AA, he said.

Seven children under 12 years old were reportedly injured in an explosion of a war remnant in Tamanthar Village, part of Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township, at about 7 a.m. on April 13.

Many Arakanese internal migrants in Yangon, Mandalay, Naypyitaw and elsewhere are trying to leave Myanmar as soon as possible to avoid conscription.

“The regime arrests civilians on a daily basis and I don’t know the reason for the arrest. I was careful not to encounter the junta troops,” said a local resident in Kyaukphyu.

Junta police officers this week conducted interrogations of passersby near Myoma Market and Basic Education High School No. 1 in Thandwe.

Residents are leaving junta-controlled Sittwe and Kyaukphyu after Arakan Army (AA) chief Major-General Twan Mrat Naing told them to do so on Wednesday ahead of planned assaults on the towns.

The Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) is attempting to persuade civilians trapped in the Arakan State capital Sittwe to join it, according to residents.