Three brothers die when abandoned mortar shell explodes in Farah

Three brothers between the ages of 7 and 10 were killed when an ordnance they discovered exploded in the village of Askar Abad in the middle of the Farah city, capital of the province.  

“These three children, who were brothers, had found an unexploded mortar shell, which was left over from the war, in a ruined house near their house. And they hit it with a stone that exploded and all three were killed,” a source in Farah told Zan Times. The deadly explosion occurred at around 4 p.m, said the source, who asked not to be identified 

The Taliban media office in Farah confirms the death of the three children, stating it was due to the explosion of a warhead left over from the war. 

The brothers are the latest innocent victims of unexploded ordnance.  Mines and improvised explosive devices, some abandoned after decades of war, are so ubiquitous that Afghanistan is believed to be one of most heavily mined countries in the world, according to the Halo Trust, which was created to tackle the abandoned ordnance.  

In April, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that “children are at high risk of death from unexploded ordnance in Afghanistan, including when they are tasked with collecting metal scraps to supplement meagre family incomes.” It found that at least “301 children were either killed or injured by explosive remnants of war and landmines in just the previous seven months.”