Criticized by the West for seizing power, Thailand's army said Friday that it had won the backing of Myanmar's military, which ruled with an iron fist for decades.

The Thai Armed Forces Office said in a statement that Myanmar's visiting army chief Min Aung Hlaing was "confident that the Thai military's actions are appropriate".

Thousands of people, some wielding sticks, flooded Myanmar's second-largest city Friday as tensions spiked during the funeral of a victim of Buddhist-Muslim clashes that have raised fears of spreading violence.

Mandalay was on edge as darkness fell with police blocking access to some Muslim neighborhoods in a tightening of security for the central Myanmar city's second night under curfew, as anger grew following unrest that left one Buddhist and one Muslim dead.

Myanmar's second-largest city was put under curfew on Thursday after two people were killed in the latest outbreak of Buddhist-Muslim violence to convulse the former junta-ruled nation.

Dozens of armed police were seen patrolling the tense streets of Mandalay where shops were shuttered after angry mobs rampaged through the normally bustling central metropolis for two consecutive nights.

Two people have been killed during Buddhist-Muslim violence in Myanmar's second-largest city of Mandalay, police said Thursday.

"There are two dead," a police officer, who did not want to be named, told Agence France Presse by telephone, without providing further details.

Proposals by radical Buddhist monks to criminalize inter-faith marriage in Myanmar face strong opposition from women's rights groups in a tussle over the nation's religious identity that has sparked international alarm.

Buddhist nationalists, feeding off the fear and uncertainty caused by successive waves of anti-Muslim violence, have issued fiery pronouncements that the very fabric of the country's main religion is under threat, casting a dark shadow over ongoing democratic reforms.

Myanmar on Monday welcomed the designation of its ancient Pyu kingdom cities as a UNESCO world heritage site, marking its first entry onto the U.N. cultural agency's prized list.

An annual World Heritage Committee meeting in Doha on Sunday granted endangered status to the remains of the cities of Hanlin, Beikthano and Sri Ksetra in the country's Irrawaddy basin.

The Kremlin said Friday it had deployed armed forces near Ukraine to shore up its porous border, after NATO voiced concern about a Russian troop buildup in the area.

Ukraine has accused Russia of sending fighters and arms across the long border to bolster a separatist rebellion while Moscow has also accused Kiev of violating the frontier.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday accused her country's election commission of bias and rejected warnings to modify her language towards the military ahead of next year's polls.

Since she became a lawmaker two years ago, the former political prisoner-turned-politician has been campaigning to amend a military-drafted constitution that bars her from becoming president.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on the international community Saturday to support her campaign to change a military-drafted constitution that bars her from becoming president, and help prepare "a fair playing ground" for elections next year.

The former political prisoner-turned-politician has been campaigning to amend the charter since she became a lawmaker two years ago.

Myanmar and Bangladeshi authorities Thursday vowed to strengthen border security and combat "illegal armed groups and criminals" following clashes on their shared frontier that Dhaka said left one of its soldiers dead.

The neighbors said they would take measures to avoid a repeat of "untoward" incidents in May, which saw gunfire exchanged between both countries' security forces, the Myanmar Police and Border Guard Bangladesh said in a joint statement.