Eight Afghan children killed while playing with unexploded mortar shell

Eight children, including four siblings, were killed in Afghanistan when a mortar shell they were playing with exploded, relatives said yesterday.

Another six children were wounded in the blast on Friday, including two who had lost limbs and were in a critical condition in a hospital in the north-western province of Faryab.

All of the children were aged between five and 12.

“They found a mortar shell and brought it near our house. They didn’t know what it was and were trying to open it when it suddenly exploded,” said Shukrullah, an uncle of four of the dead.

Mohammad Alam, who was a cousin of four of the children, said he heard a big explosion.

“I rushed to the site and saw the kids covered in blood,” Mr Alam said.

Officials blamed the explosion on the Taliban, who last week captured Koh-e-Sayad village, where the children lived.

The militants had planted a mine near a security checkpoint, said Faryab police spokesman Abdul Karim Yoresh.

“On Friday afternoon, the children were passing the area when the mine hit them,” Mr Yoresh said.

Children are often killed or maimed by explosive devices left over from decades of conflict, discarded or deliberately planted.

Civilians, including children, have borne the brunt of the conflict which began with the US-led invasion in 2001 that toppled the Taliban regime.

UN figures show 3,179 children were killed or wounded last year, almost one third of the total civilian casualties for the year.

Improvised explosive devices, such as remotely detonated or pressure-plate bombs, killed or wounded 545 of them. Unexploded ordnance claimed the lives of 142 children and wounded 376 in the same period.

Last year, 3,179 children were killed or wounded by unexploded ordnance in Afghanistan