One child killed, six injured as two unexploded devices go off in Southern Afghanistan
Kabul, June 14 (IANS) A child was killed and six others sustained injuries after two unexploded device left over from the wars went off in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province on Saturday, provincial director for information and culture Mullah Abdul Bari Rashid said Sunday.
In the first gruesome incident, which occurred in Sangin district on Saturday afternoon after three innocent children found a toy-like object and begun playing with, but the device exploded, killing a child on the spot and injuring two others, the official added, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The second incident, which took place hours later in the same district on the same day, left four children injured, the official confirmed without providing more details.
Afghanistan has been regarded as one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world, as the mines and unexploded devices left over from the past more than four decades of war and civil strife often target people, mostly civilians, including innocent children, in the post-war nation.
On June 2, a teenager was seriously injured after an unexploded device left over from the past wars went off in eastern Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, said a statement of the provincial police office.
The gruesome incident occurred in Gilan district when the ill-fated boy found a toy-like object and began playing with it, but the device exploded, the statement added.
On May 5, one person was killed and three others injured in a blast involving unexploded ordnance in Afghanistan’s Parwan province, local media reported citing a Taliban police statement.
The incident took place in Bagram district when a 20-year-old man tried to open a piece of unexploded ammunition, local Taliban authorities said in a statement. The man died in the blast while two girls and a boy were injured and taken to a hospital in Parwan, Afghanistan-based news agency Khaama Press reported.
At least 96 people were killed and 328 others were injured in Afghanistan in the past year due to explosions caused by mines and unexploded munitions, according to the data released by Taliban disaster management authorities.
According to the agency, 225 such incidents were reported between April 2025-March 2026, causing 474 casualties, which included 321 children and 153 adults, Khaama Press reported.
–IANS
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