Two elite divisions led a crackdown that forced 700,000 Muslims to flee Myanmar. Here's how they did it.

Source Reuters, 26 June

Two elite divisions led a crackdown that forced 700,000 Muslims to flee Myanmar. Here's how they did it.

A Reuters investigation provides the first comprehensive account of the precise role played by Myanmar's 33rd and 99th light infantry divisions in the savage offensive, and the close ties between the army's commander in chief and its elite troops.

YANGON, Myanmar/COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh – In early August last year, a young lieutenant named Kyi Nyan Lynn flew to Rakhine State, with hundreds of other Myanmar soldiers. They were about to launch a campaign that would drive hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from their homes and leave the region in flames.

First, however, Lieutenant Kyi Nyan Lynn of the 33rd Light Infantry Division did what any young man might do: He wrote a Facebook post.

"In our plane, we got to eat cake," read the Aug. 10 post.

"Are you going to eat Bengali meat?" commented a friend. Many Burmese refer to Rohingya as "Bengali" or use the pejorative term "kalar."

"Whatever, man," replied the lieutenant.

"Crush the kalar, buddy," urged another friend.

"Will do," he replied.

Kyi Nyan Lynn was part of what some Western military analysts refer to as Myanmar's "tip of the spear:" hundreds of battle-hardened soldiers from two light infantry divisions – the 33rd and 99th – famed for their brutal counter-insurgency campaigns against this nation's many ethnic minorities.