School enrollment for the year 2024-2025 began May 23 in Arakan State’s Sittwe, Taungup, Ann, Manaung, Gwa, Kyaukphyu and Thandwe townships.

Some junta soldiers along with their weapons have managed to flee their camps in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Ann and Thandwe townships amid fierce fighting between the military and AA.

Around 80 percent of the 200,000 IDPs are Muslims, and the rest are Arakanese people and ethnic minorities.

Heavy rain is predicted in Arakan State for the next three days due to a low pressure system over the Bay of Bengal, the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH) reported.

U Khaing Thukha said no one was living in the district GAD office and only the buildings were damaged by the junta airstrike, with no casualties reported.

Around 1.6 million people have lost access to hospital care in central and northern Arakan State, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported on Friday.

Junta artillery attacks and airstrikes killed more than 20 civilians and injured at least 50 across Myanmar during the period from May 15-21, the Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma said in a report.

A local man from Kulabar Village, part of Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township, who was seriously injured in a landmine blast, died at the hospital on Thursday evening.

Half of Thandwe’s residents have fled the town as fighting escalates in the township of the same name between the regime and the Arakkha Army (AA).

Some Muslim activists have accused the AA of killing Muslims and torching their houses.

The Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) has been abducting young men from Muslim refugee camps in Bangladesh, selling them to the regime to use them as soldiers.

Ongoing fighting between the Myanmar military and various armed groups continues to drive displacement and raise protection concerns across vast swaths of the country, the UNOCHA Myanmar Office added.

The AA took control of the BGF battalion near the Maungdaw-Buthidaung road on the evening of May 22, according to a reliable source.

The junta has blockaded the Ann-Sittwe, Ann-Tettaung, Ann-Maei, and Ann-Minbu road sections in Ann Township, but the Ann-Minbu road has been reopened since May 16, said a local resident.

People in Arakan State who depend on the forests for their livelihoods say they are having trouble making a living due to the current lack of employment opportunities and rising commodity prices.

The regime carried out checks on monasteries and wards on the nights of May 17 and 18, purportedly to search for unregistered overnight guests. 

“During 121 days spanning from January 2024 to April 2024, the military council carried out a total of 819 incidents of airstrikes, averaging at least six incidents per day,” reads the report.

In previous years, 100 sheets of nipa palm thatch sold for just 8,000 kyats, but they are selling for 20,000 kyats now, according to nipa palm thatching business owners.

The statement by 194 groups said that the regime has continuously oppressed Muslims, tortured them and committed genocide, and is currently using them as soldiers and human shields by forcing them to join the military.