“The committee members went to an IDP camp in Kyauktaw and will pay a two-day visit to Buthidaung and Maungdaw,” said a spokesperson for the Arakan state government.

The ability of the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army to mount a much more ambitious assault last month compared with its attacks in northern Arakan State last year indicates that many young Rohingya men have been galvanised into supporting the group, sources say.

As attention increasingly focuses on the tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims amassing at already overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh, thousands have also been displaced within Arakan State and more than 300 teachers in the conflict zone are “stranded” and in need of air-lifted evacuation.

Over 18,000 Rohingya Muslims, many sick and some with bullet wounds, have fled the worst violence to grip northwestern Burma in at least five years, while thousands more are stuck at the Bangladesh border or scrambling to reach it.

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday doubled down on an earlier accusation from the government that international and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) played a part in the deadly attacks staged by Muslim militants in northern Arakan State last week.

Food supplies have been cut off by the latest round of violence in northern Arakan State, according to a major UN provider of humanitarian assistance.