The chopper fired on farmlands near Minzichaung Village for 10 minutes without fighting or other provocation, and no casualties were reported, according to locals.

More than 600 educational employees took the examination on November 13 and concluded the exam on November 17, but have since been unable to return home.

A pharmacy owner in Minbya said: “We have run out of many medicines as people bought large amounts of medicines following the blockade. The remaining stocks will only last for a week at my pharmacy.”

Tens of thousands of residents have fled their homes in Sittwe, Pauktaw, Rathedaung, Ponnagyun and Minbya townships due to the junta’s indiscriminate artillery attacks and arbitrary arrests.

The Arakan Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Association demanded on Monday that civilians trapped in the fighting in Pauktaw town for five days be allowed to leave.

Meanwhile, an order issued by the junta-appointed Kyaukphyu Township administrator reads: “Unauthorised fishing, sailing and mooring along the river and shore adjacent to the town is prohibited.”

About 20 junta soldiers arrested Maung Maung Zan, a 7-year-old boy, and Ko Zaw Zaw, 20, from Sittwe’s Minzan Ward at Shwe Yaung Sone Monastery at around 10 p.m. on November 18.

The junta is expanding and building new military camps in some towns as fighting between its troops and the Arakan Army has been intensifying since November 13 in Arakan State, according to local people.

U San Shwe Maung, the man detained, has been using the “Ko Myat Yun Arakan” Facebook account to spread propaganda with the aim of disrupting national stability, the military council said.

Fighting between the military and AA continued on November 19, and the military subsequently attacked with helicopter gunships, locals said.

A DMH official said that the cyclone that crossed Bangladesh on November 17 has weakened, but due to the speed of the storm, there is still heavy rain in Arakan State.

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Myanmar has requested that all roads and waterways be opened to free travel so that humanitarian activities can be carried out for those in need of aid in Arakan State.

Allied resistance forces led by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) blew up a bridge across the Ataran River at the village of Chaung Hnakwa in Mon State’s Kyaikmayaw Township on Friday morning.

Arakan State residents recently displaced by the renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) are suffering from junta restrictions on humanitarian operations in the state.

U Win Yin, 51, was shot by a Navy warship as he was bringing some family members from Sittwe to Ponnagyun by boat.

Among the arrestees are 13 from Sittwe, 11 from Taungup, four from Kyaukphyu and eight from Buthidaung and included businessmen, village administrators and students.

Residents and shopkeepers told DMG that there are shortages of food items in Arakan State as the Myanmar military has blockaded roads and waterways in the state following renewed fighting this week between the junta and Arakan Army (AA).

One civilian was killed and at least five others were wounded by junta artillery strikes in Arakan State’s Minbya Township on Friday, DMG has learnt.

Maung Myat Htoo Naing uploaded a video on his Facebook account that showed dozens of fully armed junta soldiers in five military trucks arresting four residents in Sittwe’s Mingan Ward on the evening of November 15.