Grisly Find Points to Myanmar Regime Massacre Near Bagan

Homes reduced to ash after regime forces torched Wetpoke village in Myaing Township, Magwe Region on June 4, 2026./Chit Thaw Anyar Myay

The skeletal remains of 12 boys and men massacred by Myanmar regime forces near Bagan three years ago were discovered on Sunday in Magwe Region, according to a local civil group.

A mushroom picker stumbled on the grisly find in Wetpoke village, Myaing Township, the Anyar Myay Civil Society Organization reported.

The remains belonged to males aged 15 to 61 who went missing after being arrested by regime troops while fleeing conflict in June 2023, the group stated.

Wetpoke lies 45 kilometers north of the UNESCO World Heritage Site and 11 km southwest of Myaing town.

The corpses were recovered still bound with rope and bearing personal items including a national registration card, clothes, socks, sandals, and blister-pack pills.

The victims—nine from Gwaykone and the rest from nearby Magyikone, Thae Chaung and Magyikan villages—were arrested by regime troops on June 9, 2023, near Gwaykone.

They were killed two days later, said the group, citing a daily log seized from a Pyu Saw Htee militia camp in Wetpoke in August 2024.

The skeletal remains of a dozen boys and men are unearthed in Wetpoke on Oct. 4, 2026, three years after disappearing into military detention while fleeing conflict. /Anyar Myay Civil Society Organization (Myaing)

“According to notes recovered from the militia, the detainees were killed on June 11, 2023, at 10 am,” a spokesperson told The Irrawaddy.

“We have been searching for the site of the atrocity ever since,” he said.

A log marked with the date in question and shared with The Irrawaddy records that 12 individuals were “cleared” from the area, 10 from Gwaykone, and one each from Thae Chaung and Makyisu.

Identified by family members on Monday, the victims were named as Aung Zin Hein, Kyaw Htay, Min Zaw Oo, Aung Moe, U Aw, Htay Myint, Thaw Zin Htike, San Lin Maung, and Phyo Wai Maung from Gwaykone village, Tun Thein from Magyikone, Ohn Lin from Thae Chaung village, and one resident from Magyikan village.

The relative of one victim, who requested anonymity for safety, said she had been searching for him ever since hearing of his detention by junta soldiers.

“I learned about the discovery when the news came out last night,” she said on Monday, speaking through tears. “It’s unbearable, I have no words. Justice would be nice, but there is no hope of that now.”

The civil group said the massacre was led by Wetpoke village militia leader Win Ngwe and Army Captain Bo Phyu. Reports indicate that Win Ngwe died in March 2024, shortly before resistance units captured his Wetpoke camp on August 5, 2024.

The independent Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar has logged 115 massacres—defined as incidents in which 10 or more civilians were killed—accounting for over 2,200 deaths since the 2021 coup. At least 110 were attributed to the Myanmar military and its affiliates.