Child killed in mortar shell explosion in Pakistan

PESHAWAR: A child was killed and three others were injured when a mortar shell exploded in Pakistan's restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said. The tragic incident happened on Saturday in Azam Warsak Bazar in South Waziristan district.

The mortar shell was lying in an abandoned area. The children, mistaking it for a toy, picked it up, leading to a powerful explosion, the District Police Officer Asif Bahadur said.

The children, who died and injured in the incident, are aged between 8-10.

Dozens of children, mostly in northwest Pakistan, have lost their lives in the past when playing with toys that turned out to be explosive devices.

Toy bombs were airdropped in neighbouring Afghanistan by Soviet forces during the 1980s as weapons against those who opposed their invasion.

South Waziristan is also one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal areas, where the Pakistan Army has for more than a decade been battling militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.