PAKTIA — A 12-year-old child was killed and four others wounded in an explosion caused by unexploded ordnance in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, local sources said.
The blast occurred in the Hasan Khil village of Dand Patan district in Paktia Province on Sunday morning, according to residents.
Sources told Amu that the children were playing when they came into contact with the explosive device, which detonated on impact.
While some residents claimed the blast resulted from a deliberately planted mine, the Taliban’s provincial police command attributed the incident to leftover war munitions — a persistent and deadly threat in rural areas across Afghanistan.
The wounded children were taken to Paktia’s regional hospital, where their conditions were reported to be stable, local health officials said.
Afghanistan remains heavily contaminated with land mines and other explosive remnants of war, many of which date back decades. Children are particularly vulnerable, often mistaking dangerous objects for toys.
According to the United Nations, from January 2022 to February 2024, 1,041 civilians — including 859 children — were either killed or injured by unexploded ordnance across the country.
Figures released by the Taliban indicate that 308 such explosions occurred in 2023 alone, resulting in 174 deaths and 381 injuries.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said that in 2024, at least 564 people — 434 of them children — were killed by land mines or unexploded munitions in Afghanistan. The organization documented 251 related incidents this year.
