U.N. CALLS FOR PROBE IN ALLEGED MASSACRE

The United Nations is calling for an investigation following reports that at least 35 people, including one child, were killed in a massacre by Myanmar’s military on Christmas Eve. Two workers for Save the Children, a humanitarian organization, remain among the missing.

Photos of the charred remains of victims in torched vehicles circulated on social media in Myanmar, where activists say more than 1,300 people have died amid unrest since the military seized power on Feb. 1 and ousted the country’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

“I condemn this grievous incident and all attacks against civilians throughout the country, which are prohibited under international humanitarian law,” U.N. humanitarian affairs chief Martin Griffiths said in a statement Sunday.

He called for “a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident so that perpetrators can be swiftly brought to justice,” at a time when “millions of people in Myanmar remain in dire need of humanitarian support.”

The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar, in a statement Sunday, called the killings a “barbaric attack” and said it would “continue to press for accountability for the perpetrators of the ongoing campaign of violence against the people,” The Associated Press reported.

The embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Friday’s attack, security forces reportedly rounded up civilians in Mo So, a village in the eastern state of Kayah, where people have been displaced by military offensives and clashes with armed groups.

A villager who visited the scene told the AP that the occupants of three vehicles had been arrested, shot and burned in the cars. They had been en route to camps for internally displaced people in the western part of nearby Hpruso township, he said.

London-based Save the Children said Saturday that two staff members were swept up in the attack and remained missing.

The aid agency, which placed the death toll at 38, said it was “horrified at the violence carried out against innocent civilians and our staff.” It said its own investigation was under way.

Myanmar’s government has not commented on the allegations.

KNDF VIA AP In this photo provided by the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, smoke and flames billow from vehicles in Hpruso township, Myanmar, on Friday. Myanmar government troops allegedly rounded up villagers, fatally shot more than 30 and set the bodies on fire.