At least 40 people are dead and 80 are injured after a paraglider dropped bombs on a festival in Myanmar.

Children are among the victims of the deadly overnight attack, which is believed to have been conducted by the Myanmar military.

The attack lasted seven minutes, with witnesses saying they were hit by shrapnel as the bombs exploded on impact and bodies fell to the ground.

Hundreds of people were gathered in the Chaung U township for the Thadingyut full moon festival when the military dropped bombs on the crowd, according to a member of the committee that organised the event.

The woman said people were gathered for the festival and an anti-junta demonstration when the bombs were dropped.

She told AFP: "The committee alerted people, and one-third of the crowd managed to flee. But immediately, one motor-powered paraglider flew right over the crowd," and dropped two bombs.

She said that "children were completely torn apart", adding that people are "still collecting body parts from the ground - pieces of flesh, limbs, parts of bodies that were blown apart".