The British forces retreated and, in the power vacuum left behind, considerable violence erupted between pro-Japanese Buddhist Rakhine and pro-British Muslim villagers.
The war resulted in a complete breakdown of civil administration and consequent development of habits of lawlessness exacerbated by the availability of modern arms.
Thousands, though the exact number is unknown, fled from Buddhist-majority regions to eastern Bengal and northern Arakan, with many being killed or dying of starvation.
[4] Aye Chan, a historian at Kanda University in Japan, has written that, as a consequence of acquiring arms from the Allies during World War II, Rohingyas tried to destroy the collaborationist Arakanese villages instead of resisting the Japanese.
[5] Muslims from Northern Rakhine State tortured, raped, and killed more than 20,000 Arakanese, including the Deputy Commissioner U Oo Kyaw Khaing.