Due to inclement weather it was impossible to convoy Chechen deportees to the railway stations by the deadline set by Beria, resulting in over 700 villagers (including "non-transportable" persons: elderly, pregnant women and small children) being locked in a stable fortified with dry hay and burned alive; those who attempted to break free from the burning stable were shot.

One of the witnesses assigned to the military unit, interpreter Ziautdin Malsagov [ru], recalls that NKVD commander Gvishiani called the two newborn children in the stable "bandits" before ordering to burn the 704 people alive.

Stepan Kashurko, one of the archaeologists, accompanied by a former Soviet general, decided to inform the families that the bodies of their relatives were found, but they learned that the settlement no longer existed.

[9] A number of sources cite a telegram of the State Security Commissioner of the third rank Mikhail Gvishiani informs Lavrenty Beria about the burning of the inhabitants of the village of Khaybakh:[10] Совершенно секретно.

Colonel Gvishiani Analyzing the text of the telegram, Pavel Polyan comes to the conclusion that it is doubtful: "only for your eyes" has never been used in Soviet secret office work, one of the leaders of Operation Lentil calls it "Горы" ("Mountains") and does not know oun military rank.