According to an eyewitness, the children were apparently playing with an unexploded mortar shell.
At least two children have been killed by an explosion in southern Afghanistan, a local official said Tuesday.
Another eight children were injured in the blast in Zabul province, Sarafat Wayar, head of the province’s information and culture agency, told the German Agency.
It appeared the children were playing with an unexploded mortar shell before the tragedy, an eyewitness said, according to a video shared by the Taliban regime official.
A doctor at a provincial hospital said two children had succumbed before they were even admitted to it and two others were admitted in critical condition. Another six children are hospitalized.
Unexploded ordnance that was planted or dropped during the country’s decades of war is frighteningly often killing or maiming children.
Last Wednesday, the United Nations announced that it had recorded 2,106 civilian deaths in Afghanistan over the past 10 months. One of the main causes was residual ammunition.
According to UN data, at least 118,443 people have been killed in the armed conflict in the Southeast Asian nation since December 2008, when its agency officially began keeping statistics on civilian casualties.
However, the actual number of victims is considered to be much higher.
RES-EMP
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