In the sprawling refugee camps of Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, Abdul Kayes* sat hunched and terrified as he recounted a month spent in a nightmare he thought he would never escape.
"They told us we had to live united, die united," he told the ABC.
Mr Kayes was one of 10 Rohingya Muslim men from his village who were forcibly conscripted by the Arakan Army (AA), a Buddhist armed group fighting for control in Myanmar's Rakhine State on the western coast.
The 27-year-old said in April this year he was preparing for morning prayer when three armed members of the AA picked him up on a motorbike and threw him in a van.
By dawn, they had reached a training camp where he and others were taught to assemble firearms and recite pro-war poetry.
"They use us as frontline fighters, they want to wipe us out … it's the AA and Myanmar military's policy," Mr Kayes said.
Taken for civil war
Myanmar has spiralled into turmoil since a military coup in February 2021 ignited nationwide armed resistance and civil war.
This opposition has since aligned with long-standing ethnic minority rebel groups, like the AA, some of which have been fighting the military regime for decades.
The United Nations reported that the Myanmar military was forcibly conscripting 5,000 recruits per month in a desperate attempt to replenish its ranks, which have been diminished by heavy casualties and widespread defections.
Human rights researchers told the ABC that in April the AA had also begun forcibly recruiting Rohingya in Buthidaung and Maungdaw in the north of Rakhine, 75 kilometres south of Cox's Bazar.
"The Arkan army was very upset that the Myanmar military conscripted Rohingya and made them fight against the AA in Rakhine State, [because] in the early months of this year the AA had been helping some Rohingya populations," Fortify Rights director John Quinley III told the ABC.
So far, the AA has seized more territory than any other ethnic armed group in its fight against the Myanmar military.
"I think the Myanmar military now has very few options but to try to divide the population and create a very volatile environment in Rakhine State," Mr Quinley III said.
After enduring a month of brutal training, Mr Kayes saw his chance to escape.
Ordered to fetch water for the camp, he fled to the border instead and paid off local smugglers to cross into Bangladesh.
"They beat and tortured us, I couldn't tolerate it," he said.
Gunfire like raindrops
For decades, organisations have been documenting possible human rights abuses and other violations committed against the Rohingya, both in Myanmar and beyond.
In 2020, the International Court of Justice unanimously ordered Myanmar to prevent all acts of genocide against the Rohingya.
On August 5 and 6, more than 100 Rohingya women, children, and men were killed in a series of drone strikes and shelling along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border as they attempted to flee to safety.
Eyewitnesses told Fortify Rights that on August 6, AA soldiers shot and killed dozens more as they fled toward the border.
Among those who escaped were Almaas Khatun and her 10-year-old daughter Nur Jahan, who was shot.
"They shot gunfire like they were raindrops," Ms Khatun told the ABC. "I saw many dead bodies."
"A pregnant woman got attacked by drone from her back, and her baby got out from her belly, both died."
Desperate to save her bleeding daughter, Ms Khatun sought help at a Myanmar military base, but the doctor refused to treat her.
With no other options, Ms Khatun carried Nur Jahan in her arms, pleading with strangers for help.
A smuggler charged her $400 to cross the Naf River into Bangladesh but they were intercepted by the country's border guards.
Eventually, both Ms Khatun and her daughter were allowed to pass and receive medical treatment.
Nur Jahan survived, but she now requires an urostomy and colostomy bag for the rest of her life.
The family now lives in a makeshift structure in Cox's Bazar.
"There is no way to express my pain … I can't sleep peacefully. I can't eat. I can't stay anywhere. Staying here, tomorrow there," she said.
"We are always facing humiliations … if we die today, it would be peaceful for us."
Fragile refuge
For survivors like Mr Kayes and Ms Khatun, the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar offer safety, but only just.
Over a million Rohingya now live in the camps, having fled from Myanmar over the last decade, as the military escalated its brutal campaign against the Muslim minority group.
The camps are overcrowded and under-resourced. Families are separated, and food is scarce.
Farrukh Ahmed, a 60-year-old father, lost one of his sons in the August 5 massacre.
His voice cracked as he spoke about burying his child on the journey to Bangladesh.
"My son could hardly breathe all night and then he died," Mr Ahmed told the ABC.
Mr Ahmed buried his son on an island in Bangladesh.
"I saw many boats dropping people at that island … after I buried my son I saw at least ten other dead bodies," he said.
"It's unexplainable pain. I cant sleep. My son comes to me in my dreams."
Mr Ahmed's pain is shared by many in the camps.
His remaining family struggles to survive, reliant on the support of other relatives.
"No one is providing us with food. I can't medicate my sons," he said.
"We are managing, but not good."
Uncertain future
The situation in the camps is dire, and aid workers are stretched thin.
According to Anthony Caswell, the Deputy Country Representative for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) in Bangladesh, the number of war-wounded patients has quadrupled in recent months.
"We're talking about gunshot wounds, wounds caused by landmines and wounds caused by mortars," Mr Caswell explained.
"In Rakhine State civilians are being attacked indiscriminately."
Historically, Bangladesh had been open to large-scale refugee exoduses and influxes.
However, in the later years of prime minister Sheikh Hasina's regime, the government implemented a widespread pushback policy, refusing entry to Rohingya refugees.
Despite that, in recent months, around 8,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh.
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who now leads the interim government, has called for a fast-tracked third-country resettlement plan for Rohingya refugees.
But Mr Quinley III said the government lacks a detailed foreign policy plan and should implement some protections.
"The interim government can do things in the short term to protect refugees, and that includes allowing new arrivals to come, … access to legal status in the long term, … [and] lifting restrictions on freedom of movement," he said.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Arakan Army denied recruiting Muslims and said the AA was "protecting all the citizens in Arakan (Rakhine State) regardless of race and religion".
He also denied the violence in early August happened in areas controlled by them.
"If there are minor deviations among our soldiers … we always welcome addressing it in line with our rules and regulations," he added.
But as the conflict in Myanmar intensifies, the fate of the million Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar remains uncertain.
*Abdul Kayes's name was changed to protect his identity
