The regime has blockaded the Ann-Sittwe, Ann-Tettaung, Ann-Maei, and Ann-Minbu road sections in Ann Township.

Muslim communities have accused the military regime of creating racial tensions between the Arakanese and Muslim communities in Arakan State as it is losing ground in the western Myanmar state.

India sells weapons, aviation fuel and plane parts to the regime and also provides military training and technology, said Justice for Myanmar.

“Clashes seem to be intensifying in the mornings and evenings. The junta carries out bombing raids in the mornings and evenings,” said a local resident in Maungdaw.

One IDP said that Muslims from two displacement camps and Darpaing and Basar villages have been suffering from diarrhoea since early April.

“The regime’s actions are very despicable. The use of civilians and women by the regime under the pretext of fighting is an inhumane act,” said one Arakanese woman.

Myanmar’s military regime dropped bombs near Kyauksepyin Village, part of Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township, at least three times at about 6 a.m. on Friday, said local residents.

The military regime has ordered nearly 400 households in Ngatpyawtaw and Anaukpar wards in Thitpone Village in Arakan State’s Manaung Township to relocate by April 25.

The regime has suffered more than 100 casualties and military trucks including armoured vehicles were damaged in the ambushes, said the KNU. 

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.