By Myat Thura, KYODO NEWS - Sep 1, 2017 - 20:57 | World, All

Approaching Buthidaung town in the conflict-riddled northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine State by motor boat, a group of journalists was stunned to see thick plumes of smoke billowing out in the distance across the lush green rice paddies.

Aware of the latest clashes in the area, all aboard realized at once that what they were seeing was smoke from burning villages of either ethnic Rakhine Buddhists or Muslim Rohingya.

The journalists, from nine foreign media outlets, including Kyodo News, and eight local outlets, were on a two-day government-organized press tour from Wednesday to Maungdaw, the largest administrative town in northern Rakhine. It is home to nearly 1 million Muslims representing more than 95 percent of the population.

In the early hours of Aug. 25, Rohingya militants launched coordinated attacks on 30 police posts and an army base in three Muslim-majority townships of northern Rakhine -- Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung.

Ten police officers, a soldier and an immigration officer were killed in the initial pre-dawn attacks, with nearly 80 extremists killed in the ensuing conflict.

The attacks came just a day after the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, led by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, released its final report warning of the risk of fresh rounds of violence if the government fails to take strong and appropriate action.

A Rohingya militant group known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army claimed responsibility for the attacks. ARSA, previously known as Harakah al-Yaqin, was also responsible for deadly attacks on security forces in October 2016.

As the clashes continue, the total death toll, consisting mostly of "extremist terrorists," has climbed to nearly 400 as of Wednesday, according to updates from the military on Thursday.

From Buthidaung, a police escort led the convoy of three vans to Maungdaw town, located 26 kilometers away. The journalists on the press tour organized by the country's Information Ministry became the first to enter Maungdaw since the latest violence flared up.

Scenes of houses and shops gutted by fire awaited the reporters as they entered Maungdaw, which was tense and eerily silent.

Most of the burnt-down structures are owned by Muslim residents. The authorities believe that Muslims, not necessarily the owners, torched the properties before fleeing the town a few days after the Aug. 25 attacks.

Geared up police on alert were seen positioned at major junctions, and the town's Buddhist Rakhine residents peered out from windows as the reporters proceeded to Maungdaw's general administrative office.

No Muslims were seen in Maungdaw's central area as most live on the outskirts or in surrounding villages.

Ye Htut, the administrator of Maungdaw district, said his office was attacked with explosives around 3 a.m. on Aug. 25.

He said that in contrast to last October's attacks, the latest were more coordinated.

Several Muslim community leaders who came out to talk to the journalists at the request of the authorities said many Muslims had fled the town after the attacks or were staying indoors out of fear of being of being targeted.

"Everybody in our village wants to live in peace. We don't support these attacks," said Abdulraman, the head of Maungni village just adjacent to Maungdaw.

Most Muslims travel to the town daily from their villages outside to do business or run shops and restaurants.

However, the town is now deserted as many Muslim shops and businesses have been closed since the latest attacks as they are not coming to the town anymore. Also, a 7 p.m.-to-4 a.m. curfew imposed since last year's attacks has been extended to 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

On Wednesday, five Rakhine Buddhists were killed around 5 km from town. The reporters were allowed to visit the scene of the attack with a security escort and talk to some witnesses.

Thein Wai, a local farmer who saw the killings from a distance, said about 10 Muslims from Zalu village wielding knifes and machetes suddenly surrounded the group of Rakhine men and dragged them into a field where they were hacked to death.

The army and police immediately arrived and fired several warning shots, he said, adding that the security forces dared not follow the attackers back to Zalu for fear of being outnumbered by hundreds of Muslim villagers.

The authorities said only four of the five bodies were recovered, as it is too dangerous to get closer to Zalu to retrieve the remaining one.

About 3,000 non-Muslim villagers -- a mixture of ethnic Rakhine, Myo and Hindus of Indian descent -- from around Maungdaw are also taking refuge in several schools and monasteries across the town. Seven Hindu civilians have been killed by the extremists so far since the attacks.

Most at the camp expressed fear and anxiety, saying they have never encountered such a perilous situation before.

Most of them are from non-Muslim villages surrounded by Rohingya villages in the area and they spoke of feeling helpless and overwhelmed after seeing the sheer number of Rohingya Muslim extremists who attacked or surrounded their villages.

They said that after the attacks broke out on Aug. 25, the Rohingya Muslims from neighboring villages began acting in a menacing manner, so they fled to town for safety.

San San Tint, 38, a housewife who fled from Laymine village to a relief camp just outside Maungdaw with her family of six, said they feared for their lives in the village.

"We were so scared to see them (Rohingya) numbering in the hundreds marching up towards our village shouting loudly. They retreated as the police opened fire. But they were gathering into a big mob all the time and so it was not safe for us anymore," she said, recounting the events of the morning of Aug. 25.

Hindu residents who fled their villages and gathered in Maungdaw echoed similar experiences.

Mulindraw, 56, a Hindu farmer of Indian descent from Yatkwat Thone village, said they have also been targeted by the Muslim insurgents simply for being non-Muslim.

"We are a minority in this area and we have been living here peacefully for a long time. But now they want to drive us out," he said.

There are some 10,000 Hindus of Indian descent in the northern part of Rakhine, and more than 5,000 in Maungdaw alone.

A 40-year-old Muslim trader in Maungni village just outside the town told the journalists that he and his people in town only want to live in peace, but acknowledged that relations between the two communities have deteriorated significantly.

"We have to rebuild confidence between communities to try to improve the situation. We have to try to bring back the normal situation. We had lived together for a long time going to the same schools and doing business together. It should be that way," said Reazuddin.