“Previously, political parties in Arakan State spoke out against cruelty and human rights violations of the military council. They spoke up for the Myanmar people. But they have been silent now,” said social activist Ko Tun Tun from Sittwe.

Three residents in Kanthayar Village, part of Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township, were injured after an artillery shell fired by the No. 5 Border Guard Force fell and exploded in the village at around 1 a.m. on January 4.

Min Aung Hlaing has repeatedly promised a federal Union since the putsch, to much scepticism at home and abroad.

The AA has been launching offensive attacks on a junta tactical command base near Paletwa and Meewa tactical command base since January 1.

Junta artillery strikes killed two locals and injured two others in Paletwa, Chin State, at about 7 p.m. on January 3, according to residents.

The majority of victims were killed by artillery strikes, bombing raids or beating after being detained by junta forces, according to the BWU.

The Arakan Army (AA) attacked a junta convoy with landmines near Minywa, part of Arakan State’s Minbya Township, at about 10 a.m. on Thursday, according to locals.

Two junta jet fighters returning from the Tinma tactical command base dropped bombs on Alekyun Village, causing civilian casualties and destroying five homes, locals said.

Junta troops are reinforcing their urban positions in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, as well as in Kyaukphyu, Ramree, Ponnagyun and Myebon townships, according to local residents.

Out of more than 2,830 basic education schools in the 14 Arakan State townships where military tensions are running high between junta troops and the Arakan Army (AA), over 2,300 have been temporarily closed.

Regime forces are reportedly conducting joint army, navy and air force operations in Ramree, where fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) is intensifying, in southern Arakan State, on a daily basis.

India has sent back 151 junta soldiers who fled into Mizoram state during an Arakan Army (AA) attack on the regime’s Point 377 outpost in Chin State’s Paletwa Township, near the India border.

A young man from Ashaemrauk Ywathit Ward in Rathedaung, Arakan State, was severely injured on Wednesday morning in a landmine explosion and lost one of his legs, according to local residents.

The Arakan Army (AA) seized Khamaungwa camp, a strategic hilltop base in Paletwa Township, Chin State, on January 2, the Three Brotherhood Alliance said in a statement.

“The military council fired shells continuously. Some 10 shells landed in the town,” said a Minbya resident.

Junta soldiers entered Chelaiphin Village in Arakan State’s Sittwe Township on Tuesday morning and fired shots though there was no fighting in the area.

Myanmar’s military regime abducted at least 20 civilians from Blocks 1 and 2 in Sittwe’s Sat Yoe Kya Ward and Mindarchait Village on January 1, according to local residents.

A total of 4,273 people have died at the hands of the military regime over the past three years or so from February 1, 2021 to December 31, 2023, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in a report on Monday.

As landmine casualties have increased with the restart of fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army in Arakan State, more and more cases are involving urban and peri-urban encounters.