None of the political prisoners behind bars in Arakan State were released in the military regime’s granting of a mass amnesty to mark Myanmar’s National Day on Thursday.

Junta troops abducted 10 local men from Kalonehtar Village, part of Tanintharyi Region’s Yebyu Township, on November 17, according to fellow villagers.

Family members say they have not been in contact with five government employees including a lawyer in Kyaukphyu and an ex-administrator of Nyaungchaung Village, Ann Township, early this week.

A 16-year-old from Jeitchaung Village, Maungdaw Township, who was severely injured by mortar strikes on November 16 succumbed to shrapnel wounds at Sittwe Hospital on Friday.

As the military has blockaded both land and water routes in northern Arakan State, university students are reportedly having difficulty getting to the state capital Sittwe to attend class.

The prices of rice, fuel and basic foodstuffs have shot up in Arakan State’s Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships as regime travel restrictions have continued for months.

The Arakan State capital Sittwe has been hit by a fuel crisis as oil tankers heading to Sittwe from Yangon are stranded in Ponnagyun Township, according to local filling stations and residents.

Myanmar’s military regime said it released 5,774 prisoners from prisons across Myanmar on Thursday to mark the 102nd anniversary of the country’s National Day.

The Myanmar military abducted five residents in Thandwe Township, Arakan State, on November 15 and their families have not yet been allowed to meet with the detainees, family members said.

Myanmar’s military regime gave K500,000, 10 sacks of rice and a bottle of cooking oil to the victims of recent artillery strikes in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township, locals told DMG.

A boat carrying food items was fired upon in the Kaladan River in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township at around 10 a.m. on November 17, killing one man and injuring two others.

It has been years since some pavements have been repaved in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, with some stretches of road and sidewalk worn almost to nonexistence, and described by residents as a traffic hazard.

Blankets and warm clothes are needed for people internally displaced (IDPs) by fighting between the military and Arakan Army in Arakan State for the coming months as seasonal temperatures begin to fall, according to displacement camp officials.

Three elderly male residents of Kyaw Zan Village, Ponnagyun Township, who went missing while fleeing a junta raid on their village on November 12 have not yet been found, according to relatives. 

Four men were killed and two other people including a Grade 9 student were injured by an artillery strike in Chaungtu Village, part of Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township, at about noon on Wednesday.

Ten residents were killed and at least 27 others were injured after three mortar shells landed and exploded in Jeitchaung Village, part of Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township, at about noon on Wednesday, according to locals. 

Nine residents were killed and at least 10 homes reduced to ashes in Sin Inn Gyi Village, Ponnagyun Township, according to villagers.

Arakan State saw 3,866 foreign arrivals from January to October of this year, according to the state’s Directorate of Hotels and Tourism.

Students and minors have been among those recently arrested by the Myanmar military on suspicion amid renewed fighting in Arakan State, said Ko Oo Than Naing, the information officer of the Arakan Students’ Union.