Myanmar Regime Has Killed 383 Civilians in 21 Rakhine Massacres: Irrawaddy Tally

Myanmar’s military regime has conducted a brutal campaign of attacks against civilians in Rakhine, committing 21 massacres that left 383 people dead and 393 injured since major fighting with the Arakan Army (AA) resumed in the state nearly three years ago, according to a count by The Irrawaddy based on reports from media and the AA.

The Irrawaddy examined regime attacks since major fighting resumed in Rakhine in November 2023, counting only airstrikes and ground raids resulting in five or more civilian deaths and excluding prisoners of war. The tally reveals a pattern of atrocities across townships in Rakhine State and AA-controlled Paletwa Township in Chin State.

Kyauktaw Township suffered the most massacres, with five, followed by Mrauk-U with three, while Thandwe and Paletwa each saw two incidents.

The first documented regime massacre meeting the above criteria occurred at 1:31 a.m. on March 18, 2024, when an airstrike on Thardar, a Rohingya village in Minbya Township, killed 22 civilians, including 11 children aged 1 to 10, and injured 29 others.

The deadliest massacre took place on May 29, 2024, when a combined force of over 170 regime personnel from the Sittwe Regional Operations Command, the Pakokku-based Light Infantry Division 101, and the junta-allied Arakan Liberation Party raided Sittwe’s Byinephyu Village. The AA reported that these troops committed severe war crimes, including rape, arson and looting, resulting in the deaths of 76 civilians, among them women and children.

The recent bombing of the Indian Market and nearby Kissapanadi (Kaladan) Bridge in Rakhine State’s Kyauktaw Township on September 28 killed 50 civilians and injured 57 others, marking the deadliest airstrike and second-deadliest massacre of civilians in Rakhine over the past three years.

The attack drew widespread international attention and condemnation, prompting the UN to release a statement condemning the violence.

“They deliberately target civilians, as they can’t beat us [the AA],” the ethnic armed organization’s spokesman, Khaing Thukha, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

The regime sees the Rakhine people as enemies to be crushed, killed and uprooted, he said.

Failing on multiple fronts and suffering heavy casualties that have forced it into retreats on the battlefield, the Myanmar military has turned to targeting civilians, he said.

“This is a clear war crime, a crime against humanity,” Khaing Thukha said.

The AA has released the names and addresses of the victims, in order to show that they were civilians. Despite this, regime supporters have backed the massacres as revenge for battle losses along Kyauktaw’s Kaladan River two years ago.

“Words fail me regarding a regime that thinks the cowardly killing of unarmed civilians is considered a victory,” Wai Hun Aung, a prominent Rakhine writer and aid worker, wrote on Facebook.

A regime airstrike on Mrauk-U Hospital on December 10, 2025, just before the junta-organized election, killed 33 people, including women and children—one just three months old—and injuring 77 others. It was the regime’s third-deadliest massacre in the state during the period examined.

Despite growing international condemnation, the regime’s systematic targeting of civilians continues.

A detailed breakdown of these massacres and casualty figures, as documented by The Irrawaddy, is illustrated in the infographic below.