Mortar shell explosion kills 9 children in eastern Afghanistan

An explosion in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan has killed at least nine children and wounded four others, according to local officials.

The blast on Monday took place when a cart selling food items struck an old, unexploded mortar shell in Baiganan village in the district of Lalopar, according to a statement from the office of the governor of Nangarhar province.

The wounded children were taken to the regional hospital in the provincial capital of Jalalabad for treatment, the statement said.

No other details were immediately available.

Afghanistan is among the countries with the most unexploded land mines and other ordnance from the country’s decades of war and conflict. When the ordnance detonates, the victims are often children.

The Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K) has claimed responsibility for a series of bloody attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over the country in mid-August 2020, including in Nangarhar, one of its most common targets.

The affiliate of the ISIL (ISIS) armed group has operated in Afghanistan since 2014, carrying out dozens of horrific attacks and most often targeting the country’s minority Shia Muslims.