The executive committee of the Arakan National Party’s Sittwe chapter has been dissolved after party leaders decided this week that committee members were not meeting expectations.

Hundreds of Buddhists in Burma tried to block a shipment of aid to Muslims in Arakan State, where the United Nations has accused the military of ethnic cleansing, with a witness saying protesters threw petrol bombs before police dispersed them by firing into the air.

Security forces are on high alert in Sittwe amid communal tensions following the death of a Rohingya Muslim man yesterday.

One Rohingya Muslim man was killed and six wounded when they were attacked by a mob of Arakanese Buddhists in the capital of Burma’s troubled northwestern Arakan State on Tuesday, officials said.

Scores of protesters on Sunday took to the streets in Sittwe demanding the release of Buddhist monk Nanda Thara and a layman, Khaing Ni Min, who were arrested last month and face unlawful association charges after organising a football match in the name of the Arakan Army.

Former UN chief's team to travel to Maungdaw, which has been under lockdown since the military launched a sweep of the territory after militant attacks on 9 October.