Soldiers in the Myanmar military have admitted to killing, torturing and raping civilians in exclusive interviews with the BBC. For the first time they have given detailed accounts of widespread human rights abuses they say they were ordered to conduct.

Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual violence and torture

“They ordered me to torture, loot and kill innocent people.” aung Oo says he thought he had been recruited to the military as a guard.

But he was part of a battalion who killed civilians hiding in a monastery in May 2022.

“We were ordered to round up all the men and shoot them dead,” he says. “The saddest thing was we had to kill elderly people and a woman.”

The testimony of six soldiers, including a corporal, plus some of their victims provides a rare insight of a military desperate to cling to power. All of the Myanmar names in this report have been changed to protect their identities.

The soldiers, who recently defected, are under the protection of a local unit of the People's Defence Force (PDF), a loose network of civilian militia groups fighting to restore democracy.

The military seized power from the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup last year. It is now trying to crush the armed civilian uprising.

On 20 December last year, three helicopters circled Yae Myet village in central Myanmar, dropping soldiers with orders to open fire.

At least five different people, speaking independently from each other, told the BBC what happened.

They say the army entered in three separate groups, shooting at men, women and children indiscriminately.

“The order was to shoot anything you see,” says Corporal Aung from an undisclosed location in a remote part of Myanmar's jungle.

He says some people hid in what they thought was a safe place, but as the soldiers closed in they “started to run and we shot at them”.

Cpl Aung admits his unit shot and buried five men.

“We also had an order to set fire to every large and decent house in the village,” he says.

The soldiers paraded around the village torching houses, shouting, “Burn! Burn!”

Cpl Aung set fire to four buildings. Those interviewed say about 60 houses were burnt, leaving much of the village in ashes. (BBC)