Myanmar has detained several journalists after they published allegations of a military facility producing chemical weapons, according to their newspaper editor, as a media watchdog raised fears over press freedom.

Five journalists including the chief executive of the Unity Weekly News were arrested on Friday and Saturday, according to colleagues, who said they are facing charges over a report in January.

Thailand has detained more than 500 Muslim Rohingya refugees, including women and children, who were discovered in a raid on a suspected people-trafficking camp, police said Monday.

Thousands of Rohingya, described by the United Nations as among the world's most persecuted minorities, have fled sectarian violence in western Myanmar in rickety boats since 2012, mostly believed to be heading for Malaysia.

The United Nations has called on Myanmar to investigate reports that dozens of men, women and children were killed in attacks on Rohingya Muslims in the country's strife-torn Rakhine state.

The U.N. said it had received "credible information" of a series of attacks in a remote area of Rakhine earlier this month, in the latest statement of international concern over the fresh bout of unrest in the volatile region.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay urged Myanmar Thursday to investigate reports that more than 40 people had been killed in attacks on Rohingya Muslims in the country's strife-torn Rakhine state.

"I deplore the loss of life in (the village of) Du Chee Yar Tan and call on the authorities to carry out a full, prompt and impartial investigation and ensure that victims and their families receive justice," Pillay said in a statement.

An Indonesian court Thursday jailed an Islamic extremist bomb-maker for seven-and-a-half years for his role in a plot to attack the Myanmar embassy to avenge the killing of Rohingya Muslims.

Separiano is the fourth person to be jailed over the failed plot to bomb the mission in Jakarta, which came amid rising anger in Muslim-majority Indonesia at the plight of the Rohingya in mainly Buddhist Myanmar.

Myanmar's economy is on pace to grow 7.5 percent this fiscal year, the International Monetary Fund said, praising the government for working to liberalize the foreign exchange market and boost central bank reserves.

It warned, however, that inflation is expected to surpass 6 percent by March, when the current fiscal year ends, and could continue to rise.

An Indonesian court Tuesday jailed the mastermind of an Islamic extremist plot to bomb the Myanmar embassy for seven-and-a-half years, but the militant pledged to "continue fighting the enemies of Islam".

Sigit Indrajid confessed at an earlier hearing to leading a group which planned to attack the mission in Jakarta to avenge the killing of minority Rohingya Muslims in mainly Buddhist Myanmar.

Myanmar's army has freed 96 children and young people from its armed forces, the United Nations said Saturday, hailing a "historic step" towards ending the use of child soldiers in the formerly junta-run nation.

The move was the largest single release of child recruits since Myanmar's new reformist government and its "tatmadaw" army signed a June 2012 pact with the U.N. on the issue.

The United States said Friday it was "deeply troubled" by a new wave of unrest in western Myanmar which has left several people dead, and warned security forces against "excessive force."

"We are deeply troubled by reports of violence in the Rakhine state," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Several people including women and a child have been killed in an attack on Rohingya Muslims in strife-torn western Myanmar, a rights group said Friday, as the U.S. embassy voiced alarm.

Myanmar's Rakhine state remains extremely tense after several outbreaks of communal bloodshed between Buddhist and Muslim communities since 2012 that have killed scores and displaced some 140,000 people, mainly from the Rohingya minority.