In February 2026, survivors of a devastating military operation in Rakhine State, Myanmar, recounted the horrific details of a three-day massacre that claimed the lives of at least 70 men. The mass killings took place between May 29 and May 31, 2024, in Byain Phyu, a predominantly Rakhine Buddhist village of approximately 2,000 residents situated on the outskirts of the state capital, Sittwe. According to the five survivors who shared their experiences in Ponnagyun Township, the military carried out the atrocities as a direct act of revenge for battlefield defeats suffered at the hands of the rebel Arakan Army.
The nightmare began on the morning of May 29, 2024, at around 8:00 a.m., an unusual time for military patrols which typically occurred later in the day or during the night. Six trucks packed with about 200 heavily armed soldiers arrived at the center of Byain Phyu. The troops split into two equal groups and marched in opposite directions to surround the village and block any escape routes. A third group of soldiers, led by a young officer, used loudspeakers to order all residents to assemble at the village center immediately.
While military patrols and late-night raids were not uncommon in Byain Phyu, the scale of this operation was unprecedented. Soldiers dragged at least a dozen elderly, sick, and physically challenged residents from their homes at gunpoint. Commuters and daily laborers heading toward Sittwe were forced to turn back. Among them was Kyaw Kyaw Aung, an artist on his way to sell his paintings, who was forced to return after soldiers confiscated his motorcycle and his bag containing his artwork.
Once the population was gathered, a middle-ranking officer, believed to be an army major, ordered approximately 800 men and teenage boys to the outskirts of the village near a tea shop. The men were blindfolded, and their hands were tied behind their backs. At around 6:00 p.m., they were relocated to the western fringe of the village. Meanwhile, another young officer forced the women and children to sit along the cobbled streets, closely inspecting them and detaining anyone deemed suspicious.
Hla Hla Khin, whose husband and son were among the men taken to the village periphery, recalled that residents initially believed the soldiers were merely looking to question and arrest specific individuals. However, the situation turned terrifying at around 7:00 p.m. when the sound of intermittent screams echoed from the outskirts, indicating that the men were being tortured. By 8:00 p.m., gunshots began ringing out at regular intervals, continuing until 4:00 a.m. the following morning.
At dawn on May 30, smoke was seen rising from a cemetery located about 100 meters from the village boundary. Ma Wong Than, whose father was among those killed, realized then that the military was burning the corpses of the executed men. Soon after, a middle-aged Burmese trader from Bago, who had been temporarily residing in Byain Phyu, was released by the soldiers after proving his Burmese identity. As he hurried back, he informed the waiting women that about 70 men had been tortured and shot multiple times, with their bodies being buried or cremated at the cemetery and near a local lake.
The trader also revealed that when thirsty detainees begged for water, soldiers forced them to drink urine from plastic bottles. A middle-aged man who protested this treatment was beaten so severely with rifle butts that he died from his injuries two days later. At least ten other men were left unable to walk or speak due to the severity of the torture before the survivors were transported to prison.
Saw Tamana Mue, a dock worker of Karen ethnicity who was staying in the village with his Rakhine Buddhist wife, corroborated these accounts. He was released on the morning of May 30 along with about a hundred elderly and sick residents, but only after being subjected to torture himself. He recalled that the 800 men were divided into three groups and forced to kneel while blindfolded. He witnessed several men being stabbed multiple times and shot dead after attempting to escape. Saw Tamana Mue, who was suspected of belonging to the Karen National Liberation Army, narrowly escaped execution.
The military's targeted violence was driven by accusations of collaboration with the Arakan Army, which by mid-2024 had seized control of nearly 70 percent of Rakhine State and southern Chin State. The military accused each household in Byain Phyu of paying a monthly fee of 2,000 kyats (approximately $0.95) to the rebel group and providing them with intelligence and recruits. Junta officers repeatedly reminded the captive villagers of the heavy casualties the military had suffered during the Battle for Kyauktaw, where the Arakan Army had defeated the military and captured nearly 300 surrendering soldiers. According to survivor Khin Khin Hla, an officer explicitly stated that the raid was meant to avenge those military deaths and that the village would be erased.
During the raid, the military used a pre-compiled list of 11 suspected United League of Arakan functionaries. These men were forced to kneel in a row and were interrogated. Unsatisfied with their answers, soldiers beat them with chains and shot them dead. Seventeen-year-old Maung Wong, whose father subsequently disappeared from Pathein prison, witnessed the executions. Maung Wong himself was tortured and imprisoned for eight months in Sittwe prison before his release.
The strategic city of Sittwe remains a crucial stronghold for the military, serving as a vital commercial hub and the center of an Indian-backed multi-modal connectivity project. To prevent the Arakan Army from capturing the city, the military has engaged in a scorched-earth campaign in surrounding areas. Survivors reported that at least 30 villages near Sittwe, including Aung Dine, Kyar Ma Thauk, Myit Nar, and War Bo, have faced similar raids, house burnings, and targeted killings, forcing thousands of residents to flee.
