“AA members reportedly abducted three officers from the GAD and confiscated office documents,” a source who did not want to be named told DMG on condition of anonymity.

About 70 junta troops fired at least 50 gunshots in several wards starting from 12 noon, said residents.

Junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun has sought to sow discord between local people in Arakan State and the Arakan Army (AA), blaming the ethnic Arakanese armed group for hardships local people are suffering.

Daw Nyo Aye, chairwoman of the Rakhine Women’s Network (RWN), who was arrested by police and charged under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, was arraigned at the Sittwe Township Court on December 4.

“First, junta soldiers torched about 130 homes in Yeyoepyin Village. Four hours later, they reduced more than 30 homes to ashes in Khamaungdaw Village,” said a local man from Yeyoepyin Village.

The AA has been attacking junta hilltop tactical command bases in Taron Eain and Nonebu in Paletwa Township since November 14, and the regime has used chemical bombs to repulse its onslaught, according to the AA.

A local man was killed and three others were injured after junta artillery shells landed and exploded in Chilaepin Village, part of Arakan State’s Sittwe Township, on December 4.

Locals accused junta soldiers of burning not only homes in the villages but also paddy near the farms outside the village.

Arakan State residents hope that Japan’s Nippon Foundation chairman Yohei Sasakawa might have urged the Myanmar military regime to lift travel restrictions in Arakan State.

Widespread fuel shortages have been reported across Arakan State due to the junta’s road and waterway blockades, forcing many social organisations to halt operations.

A resident of Thet Kan Htaung Village in Kazukaing village-tract was killed by a junta artillery strike on November 14. Six villagers from Alel Chaung village in Darletchaung village-tract were wounded the same day.

At least 15 child casualties, including three fatalities, have been reported to date in Arakan State over the first 20 days of the latest hostilities between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army, according to a DMG tally.

U Win Zaw, 40, was sleeping in his paddy fields as he needed to guard them against wild animals before the harvest, said a family member.

“We didn’t expect this. We might have been very busy at this time of year otherwise,” said a member of Arakan State Thabin Asiayone, who asked for anonymity.

Muslim IDP camps in Arakan State are often dependent on food supplied by international organisations such as WFP, ICRC, Save the Children and MSF.

“Fighting has erupted since Friday morning. Junta soldiers at military camps near three villages reportedly surrendered to the resistance forces,” said a resident of Kawkareik.

Sasakawa mediated a ceasefire between Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) in the previous fighting in Arakan State, leading observers to speculate that Sasakawa come to do the same job he had done before.

Fierce fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) was ongoing in Pauktaw, Arakan State, on Friday.

Materials used to calculate firing data to shell residential areas were discovered, according to local residents, at the junta-controlled Tin Nyo police station in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State.