Daily Times

PESHAWAR: At least nine children were killed and another seriously wounded in two separate ‘toy’ bomb explosions in Mehsud area of South Waziristan agency on Saturday and Sunday.

The first incident took place in Parto area of Tayarza Tehsil late on Saturday. Two children were killed when a toy bomb they had picked from a field exploded.

On Sunday, the first day of Eidul Fitr in Waziristan, a toy bomb killed seven children in Spin Mazak area of Sararogha tehsil.

Those killed in the second blast were identified as Anis, Tufail, Asim, Hassan and Atiq. Three children injured in the incident were identified as Israr, Naqeeb and Sanaullah. Two of them later died of their wounds, while another one is in critical condition.

“Three children died on the spot in the explosion on Sunday, while two others died on the way to Tank. A sixth child lost his life upon reaching the hospital in Tank,” a local journalist in Tank told Daily Times. He added that one of the injured children later died at the hospital in Dera Ismail Khan.

The parents hurried the five injured children to the health facility in Tank, some 90 kilometres away from the blast site. ‘Toy’ bombs were airdropped in neighbouring Afghanistan by Soviet forces during the 1980s as weapons against those who opposed their invasion.

Published in Daily Times, June 26th, 2017.