Two eight-year-old girls were killed and nine others injured in an explosion that occurred at the Jeriq-doq Girls’ School in Qush-Tepa district of northern Jowzjan province on Wednesday, local sources confirmed.
According to the Taliban security officials in Jowzjan province, the explosion occurred outside the school. Taliban’s local security command spokesman Abdul Sattar Halimi, said that the children found a hand grenade on the road, which resulted in the explosion.
Afghanistan is one of the countries with the highest land contaminated with explosives (around 606 square kilometers), making it extremely dangerous for civilians, especially children.
The UNICEF reported that last week eight children lost their lives due to unexploded ordinance, and more than 700 children are estimated to be killed or maimed by unexploded ordnance and remnants of war in Afghanistan this year.
According to UN, Afghanistan has one of the highest levels of explosive ordnance contamination in the world and $18.3M is needed for survey, explosive ordnance disposal and landmine clearance in 2023.
