Three small bombs were detonated in a Rakhine town on the day of a visit by State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. No one was injured in the December 19th blasts, which went off in the town of Manaung, on an island south of Sittwe. However, the incident highlights the ongoing unrest in the conflict-ridden state.

“There were three explosions, but no casualties,” Win Myint, spokesperson for the regional government of Rakhine, told AFP.

The state counsellor went ahead with the trip, during which she attended a solar power plant opening. According to local media, the bombs had been planted by the side of a road a safe distance from the event Aung San Suu Kyi attended. No group has claimed responsibility for the explosions, but a possible culprit could be the Arakan Army (AA), a separatist group that claims to seek greater rights and autonomy for Rakhine Buddhists. The AA has conducted guerrilla-style attacks in recent months and taken scores of hostages. The prisoners include National League for Democracy MP U Hawi Tin, who has been held for more than six weeks. However, the AA claims it is only interested in military personnel, and most of the hostages it has taken have been freed.

There has been less violence involving the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a Rohingya Muslim armed group. But that organization has returned to the media spotlight in recent weeks. Before the bombings, Aung San Suu Kyi detailed the ARSA threat before the International Court of Justice last week to argue that the Rohingya refugee crisis was the result of a legitimate military conflict rather than a systematic ethnic cleansing.

Regardless of who was behind the attack, unrest in Myanmar’s West continues to be a thorn in the side of the NLD government, driving away tourism and foreign investment.