A new report by Human Rights Watch has accused the ethnic armed group Arakan Army of carrying out a large-scale massacre of Rohingya civilians in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in May 2024, describing the killings as possible war crimes.
Published on Tuesday, the investigation alleges that at least 170 Rohingya men, women, and children were killed on May 2, 2024, in Hoi Yar Siri village in Buthidaung Township as civilians attempted to flee fighting between the Arakan Army and Myanmar’s military junta.
“Skeletons and skulls were scattered everywhere”
The report includes testimony from survivors who returned to the abandoned village months later and found human remains scattered across fields where villagers had been executed.
One survivor, Omar Ahmad, said he revisited the village in July 2024 to recover belongings left behind after fleeing the violence.
“When I reached the rice field where nearly 80 villagers, including my relatives, had been killed, I saw piles of skeletons and human skulls scattered everywhere,” he said. “The flesh had decomposed, but the clothes on the bodies were still there.”
According to Human Rights Watch, the massacre remained largely undocumented for over a year because of military restrictions and the remote location of the attacks. Details emerged only after survivors managed to flee to Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
Civilians caught between junta forces and Arakan Army
The report says thousands of displaced Rohingya had sought shelter in Hoi Yar Siri village during escalating clashes in northern Rakhine State in early 2024.
As fighting intensified around nearby military bases, villagers were reportedly trapped between orders from Myanmar’s military to remain in the area and warnings from the Arakan Army to evacuate.
On the morning of May 2, thousands of civilians carrying white flags began fleeing toward Buthidaung town. Survivors said Arakan Army fighters then opened fire on the crowd without warning near a hill known as Tain Ngar Mura.
“Bullets were coming from all directions,” survivor Halim Hossain told investigators.
Another survivor, Kabir Ahmad, described watching his wife and three children die beside him during the attack.
“They shot us from only a few feet away,” he said. “My wife gave me the money she was carrying and told me to run before she died.”
Children among the dead
Human Rights Watch said it had verified the identities of at least 170 victims, including 90 children, through interviews with 41 witnesses, satellite imagery, and analysis of photos and videos circulated online.
Rohingya activists, however, believe the actual death toll could exceed 500.
The rights group accused the Arakan Army of carrying out deliberate attacks on civilians, unlawful killings, torture, looting, arson, and denial of medical assistance.
It also criticized Myanmar’s military junta for failing to protect civilians and for forcibly recruiting Rohingya men and boys into military service, actions that further inflamed tensions in the region.
Village destroyed, survivors trapped in camps
Satellite imagery reviewed by Human Rights Watch showed that Hoi Yar Siri village was later completely burned down and rendered uninhabitable.
Many survivors who remained inside Myanmar were reportedly confined to camps controlled by the Arakan Army, where they face severe shortages of food and medical care and restrictions on movement.
The Arakan Army’s political wing, the United League of Arakan, has denied responsibility for the killings.
Human Rights Watch called on the international community to raise the issue during the upcoming 62nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, scheduled from June 15 to July 10, and urged an independent investigation into the alleged atrocities.
