TWO years after Arakan Army fighters killed and wounded hundreds of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, survivors remain displaced, their village destroyed, and no one held accountable, Human Rights Watch said. The rights group said the May 2, 2024, attack in Hoyyar Siri, also known as Htan Shauk Khan, exposed the scale of abuse facing Rohingya civilians caught in Myanmar’s widening conflict.
According to Human Rights Watch, the assault began as villagers fled fighting near two military bases in Buthidaung township, only to come under fire from Arakan Army fighters. The group said the attack targeted unarmed civilians and amounted to war crimes.
Human Rights Watch said its new report is based on interviews with witnesses, satellite imagery, and verified visual evidence. It said more than 170 villagers were killed or remain missing, including about 90 children, and that the actual toll is likely higher.
When survivors later returned, they found the village burned and human remains scattered across the area, while many others had already fled to displacement camps or across the border to Bangladesh and Malaysia.
The report said the massacre has become another example of how Rohingya communities continue to face violence, forced displacement, and impunity in Myanmar, where both the military and the Arakan Army have been accused of grave abuses. Human Rights Watch urged both sides to stop attacks on civilians, release unlawfully detained people, and allow independent investigations.
The case adds to long-running demands for accountability over atrocities committed against the Rohingya, a minority that has faced repeated waves of persecution, displacement, and mass violence in Myanmar.
