Myanmar junta troops loot, torch villages in rampage near Old Bagan

Soldiers razed around 30 houses on a three-day raid starting last Friday some ten miles south of Bagan, a centuries-old city and cultural heritage site in Mandalay Region’s Nyaung-U Township, locals said. Two columns of junta troops were involved in the raid, which swept through at least ten villages west of the road connecting the towns of Nyaung-U and Kyaukpadaung, according to resistance fighters operating in the area. The troops took civilians captive and set houses on fire as they advanced westward from the village of Taung Zin, the resistance sources said. “Junta troops deployed drones and fired heavy weapons before entering the villages,” a Nyaung-U Township-based resistance fighter said. “They set fires and looted several villages, then left after torching Kyauk Pyin Kan village on Sunday.” At least 17 houses in the village of Kan Ni Pauk, seven in Gyoe Kan, and four in Kyauk Pyin Kan were set ablaze by the soldiers. A burned village in Nyaung-U Township in July 2025 (Photo: Supplied) Taung Zin, the village tract from which the troops started their advance, is 10 miles south of Nyaung-U, a junta-controlled town and tourism hub close to the hundreds of pagodas and temples in Bagan. Resistance fighters said that another junta column moved in from neighbouring Chauk Township—located downstream from Nyaung-U Township on the Ayeyarwady River—before stationing briefly in Myaung village around one mile south of Kyauk Pyin Kan, then withdrawing from the area on Sunday. “We were outnumbered by the junta troops and couldn’t engage them in combat. But we helped villagers flee to safety and avoid the advancing columns,” a fighter from another resistance group said. In several other Nyaung-U Township villages—such as Chaung Shey, Ah Nauk Ohn, Kan Gyi Kone, and Thea Pyin Taw—there were no evident incidents of arson on the first day of the raid, but several households were reportedly looted. At least five people were taken captive by junta troops during the raid, according to locals, who said they had not heard from the hostages since. Locals also said that more than 10,000 people fled their homes in dozens of villages during the raid and have been moving from place to place on motorcycles or in cattle-drawn carts to stay ahead of the troops. “We had to move to four different locations to avoid the soldiers over the course of three days,” said a displaced man from Kyauk Pyin Kan. “We’re a family of seven, so it wasn’t easy. We used a motorcycle to get our elderly grandparents and children out first. We used a cow cart to carry our belongings.” Schools have been closed in the resistance-held areas of southern Nyaung U Township following repeated raids by junta troops, which began near the beginning of the year. A 10-year-old schoolchild and a 24-year-old resistance fighter were killed when two junta gyrocopters dropped bombs on Kyauk Pyin Kan in August. At least 100 houses were burned by junta troops in several villages west of the Nyaung U- Kyaukpadaung road—including Chaung Shey, Ah Nauk Ohn, Kyauk Pyin Kan, and Myaung—in the first weeks of July.

Myanmar junta troops loot, torch villages in rampage near Old Bagan

Two columns of ground forces took five people captive and displaced thousands of civilians as they moved through villages west of the Nyaung-U-Kyaukpadaung road

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