Nine children killed by landmine blast in Afghanistan

KABUL: Nine children were killed in a blast in southeastern Afghanistan that was caused by a landmine laid during the country’s decades of conflict, a provincial official said Monday.

The mine went off as a group of young boys and girls were playing with it in the Geru district of Ghazni province on Sunday, said the provincial head of the information and culture department, Hamidullah Nisar. “An unexploded mine left over from the time of the Russian invasion went off when they were playing with it,” Nisar said.

“Unfortunately, it killed nine children.” Ghazni police said the children – five girls and four boys – were aged from four to ten years old.

Also on Sunday, another child died and five other people were wounded when unexploded ordnance went off in Herat province.