9 children dead after old land mine explodes in Afghanistan
An old land mine found by children in eastern Afghanistan exploded while they were playing with it, killing nine children, a Taliban spokesperson said Monday.
The mine, which the children found near their village in Gero district in Ghazni province, was from decades ago, said Hamidullah Nisar, director of the Taliban’s information and culture department in Ghazni.
He said the explosion Sunday killed five boys and four girls who were 5 to 10 years old.
Taliban seized power in August 2021, ending their insurgency, unexploded ordnance and mines still claim lives regularly, with the International Committee of the Red Cross saying children are the main victims.
Since 1989, about 44,000 Afghan civilians have been recorded to have been killed or injured by land mines and explosive remnants of war, according to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). A UNICEF report for 2022 documented around 700 children maimed or killed — almost 2 children per day — by explosive ordnance.
Agence France-Presse contributed reporting.
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Source: cbsnews.com