What Happened at Htan Shauk Khan in Myanmar’s Rakhine State on May 2, 2024?
The Arakan Army was accused of slaughtering civilians. But residents say that air strikes and shelling on the village caused the fatalities.
The Diplomat
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The Arakan Army (AA)’s military campaign to liberate the Arakan region from the Myanmar military has sparked allegations and counter-allegations of killings and arson by the warring sides. Among the most recent cases is a massacre that reportedly happened at the Rohingya Muslim-inhabited Htan Shauk Khan village in northern Rakhine State’s Buthidaung Township, where the AA has been accused of butchering innocent civilians two years ago.
Human rights organizations have alleged that the AA killed at least 170 residents of the village, including women and children, on May 2, 2024, during a battle with the Myanmar military. The report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) offers details of the incident based on the accounts of some survivors, who were able to duck for cover and flee to Bangladesh.
Htan Shauk Khan or Hoyyar Siri, as the village was also known, no longer exists. Residents who survived have established a new village named New Htan Shauk Khan around two miles north of the original settlement.
The Diplomat visited New Htan Shauk Khan village on February 8 this year and interviewed three residents who narrated the sequence of events that unfolded on the morning of that fateful day.
What happened on May 2, 2024?
Mohammad Juloddin, the village chief of New Htan Shauk Khan village, claimed that the original settlement inhabited by 914 people had been “disturbed” since mid-2023, when the Myanmar military, in collaboration with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), began forced conscription of Rohingya youths. The objective was to raise a formidable force to defend the township against the advancing AA that had already liberated a vast swathe of territory in Arakan. The village had many people who were staunch supporters of the ARSA, he said.
Village chief Mohammad Juloddin (front, center) and other residents of New Htan Shauk village in Buthidaung Township in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, being interviewed by the author. Credit: Rajeev Bhattacharyya
According to Mohammad Juloddin, a “large chunk” of ARSA functionaries and trained recruits were stationed in the village for several months. It was evident that the AA, which was closing in on the village would capture the two military establishments in the township, including Infantry Battalion 551.
“At 8 a.m. on May 2, there was shelling and airstrikes on our village by the Myanmar military because it assumed that the settlement had already been captured by the Arakan Army. After some time, a large group of Myanmar military personnel and their families from Infantry Battalion 551, numbering around a thousand, entered our village with weapons even as we were thinking of relocating to safer places,” recalled Mohammad Juloddin.
“The whole village was burning,” he said. “The Arakan Army had also started to announce over a loudspeaker from the neighboring village of U Hla Phe, requesting residents to abandon the village. There was complete chaos as residents began to flee in all directions.”
Mohammad Juloddin pointed out that after the residents were displaced, they were sheltered in different Rohingya-inhabited villages. Work on building a new village began on October 1, 2025, and about 700 residents returned to settle there three months later.
“Over a hundred residents have fled to Bangladesh for fear of retaliation by the Arakan Army. They were mostly ARSA functionaries, sympathizers or collaborators with the Myanmar military,” Mohammad Juloddin recalled. He said that some of those in refugee camps in Bangladesh have emigrated to Malaysia, while “there are some in Bangladesh who wish to return to the new village.”
The Death Toll
There is no consensus among those interviewed on the number of residents who died on May 2, 2024, in Htan Shauk Khan village.
Village chief Mohammad Juloddin is of the view that around five residents were killed ahead of the evacuation of the village. He did not rule out the possibility of some Myanmar military personnel being killed as well that day.
Mohammad Huson is an elderly resident settled in New Htan Shauk Khan village. His brother, nephew and father-in-law were killed as the residents were preparing to exit from the village. “I believe around 30 people were killed in the airstrikes and shelling by the Myanmar military on the village,” he said, recalling that amid the chaos and confusion that day, “residents grabbed as many items from their homes as possible and scurried to safety in different directions.”
Another resident who did not wish to be named agrees with Huson’s estimate of the death toll. He believes that some residents who sustained injuries may have died subsequently, after relocating to safer places. “We have also heard that there were some deaths among the residents who fled to Bangladesh,” he said.
These differences of opinion notwithstanding, residents in New Htan Shauk Khan village were unanimous on three issues relating to the horrific incident. First, all of them believe that the killings and injuries suffered by the residents were the result of shelling and airstrikes by the Myanmar military.
Second, there was consensus among an overwhelming number of residents that a new village ought to be established in a different site owing to their concern that there could be unexploded bombs and mortar shells in the village. They had heard tales about landmines and shells exploding from other Rohingya-inhabited villages over the past couple of years.
And third, all the military personnel and their families present in Htan Shauk Khan village on May 2, 2024, had surrendered to the AA, which senior functionaries of the outfit confirmed to this correspondent.
Controversies are not uncommon in conflict zones, where incidents evoke multiple interpretations. Speculation on what transpired is common. Information is often tweaked, even weaponized, to create narratives that suit various vested interests.
Myanmar’s Arakan is no exception in this regard, with many governments and organizations having high stakes in the region owing to its location, social configuration and vast reserves of natural resources.
