UN condemns junta strike that killed at least 32 people at Myanmar festival

The UN has condemned the junta airstrike that killed at least 32 people at a festival in Myanmar.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "alarmed" by reports of the attack, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric told journalists in New York on Wednesday.

Dujarric called Monday's attack part of a "disturbing pattern" of indiscriminate attacks by the country's military.

At least 32 people were killed and more than 50 injured when the military junta bombed a Buddhist festival in northwestern Myanmar on Monday night.

Several children were among the dead and injured in the attack, during which junta paragliders dropped bombs on an anti-regime candlelight vigil near a village in the Chaung-U Township of the Sagaing Region.

The bodies of the victims were scattered by the blasts, making identification difficult after paragliders dropped two more bombs minutes later at the location.

The festival was held to celebrate Myanmar's Lighting Festival, observed on the full moon of Thadingyut, the seventh month of the Burmese lunar calendar.

"This tragic incident, if confirmed, would add to a disturbing pattern of indiscriminate attacks affecting civilians across the country," Dujarric said.

"The indiscriminate use of airborne munitions is unacceptable," he said, urging all parties to the conflict to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.