4 children killed in Herat playground blast

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Four children were killed and six others, including four children, were injured on Thursday morning when a landmine exploded in a playground in the Gulran district of western Herat province, police said.

The blast took place in a children’s playground near the district bazaar at around 9am, Herat police spokesman Col. Abdul Rauf Ahmadi told Pajhwok Afghan News.

He accused the insurgents of planting the explosive device that killed and wounded children.

The injured were taken to the district hospital with three of them said to be in critical condition, Ahamdi said.

Security officials in the district said they had launched an investigation into the blast. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

The deaths came the day the UN issued a report showing 30 percent increase in the number of children killed or injured in the Afghanistan conflict in 2013 compared with the previous year.

At least 545 children were killed and 1,149  injured in the country in 2013, the report said.

ma

Visits: 0