(MENAFN) The United Nations has strongly condemned a military airstrike in Myanmar that killed at least 32 people during a festival, according to reports.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed that he was “alarmed” by accounts of the attack, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told journalists in New York on Wednesday. Dujarric described Monday’s strike as part of a “disturbing pattern” of indiscriminate attacks by Myanmar’s military.

The attack occurred on Monday night when the junta targeted a Buddhist festival in northwestern Myanmar, leaving more than 50 people injured. Several children were among the casualties. Paragliders deployed by the military dropped bombs on an anti-regime candlelight vigil near a village in Chaung-U Township, Sagaing Region. Minutes later, two additional bombs were dropped, scattering victims’ bodies and complicating identification.

The festival marked Myanmar’s Lighting Festival, celebrated 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. He further stressed that “the indiscriminate use of airborne munitions is unacceptable,” calling on all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian and human rights law.

MENAFN09102025000045017281ID1110173346