A provincial official stated on Monday that nine children were killed in a blast in southeastern Afghanistan triggered by a landmine planted during the country’s decades-long conflict.
According to Hamidullah Nisar, the provincial head of the information and culture department, the mine exploded on Sunday while a group of young boys and girls were playing with it in Geru’s Ghazni province.
Nisar said, “An unexploded mine left over from the time of the Russian invasion went off when they were playing with it”.
“Unfortunately, it killed nine children”, Nisar continued.
Ghazni police stated the children, five girls, and four boys, ranged in age from four to ten years old.
Unexploded mines, grenades, and mortars litter the landscape of Afghanistan after decades of strife, including the Soviet invasion in 1979, the subsequent civil war, and the 20-year Taliban insurgency against foreign-backed governments.
Violence has decreased considerably since the Taliban won power in August 2021, thereby ending the conflict.
However, unexploded ordnance and mines continue to kill people on a regular basis, with children being the most vulnerable, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“On Sunday, another kid was killed and five others were injured when explosive munitions exploded in Herat province”, local police said.
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