KUNDUZ (Xinhua) – Two children were killed and one child was seriously wounded in an unexploded ordnance explosion in Afghanistan’s northern province of Kunduz, a local official confirmed on Saturday.
The incident occurred when an explosive remnants of war (ERW) was detonated in Bagh-e-Meri, an area on the outskirts of provincial capital Kunduz city on Saturday morning, Obaidullah Abed from the provincial police department told Xinhua.
According to the source, one of the victims found the ERW when they were playing near a garden, and the wounded child was transported to a regional hospital for treatment.
Landmines, anti-personnel mines as well as ERW left behind from wars kill or maim about 120 people every month in the country, according to Afghanistan’s State Ministry for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs.
Mohamed Ag Ayoya, the UNICEF representative in Afghanistan, said in a tweet on Friday that violence against children should be stopped immediately, in addition to informing people about the surge in violence against children.
“In the past two days 16 children were killed in attacks in Kabul & Mazar-e-Sharif and one other in Uruzgan due to unexploded remnants of war,” he wrote.
The UNICEF representative offered condolences to the families of the deceased children and stated that children should not pay the price for conflicts that are unrelated to them. He continued to call for children protection.
Mohamed Ag Ayoya made the remarks following a series of explosions in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif that killed and maimed a lot of children.
The UNICEF called the escalation of violence against children in western Kabul schools and educational institutions a disaster that brazenly violated children’s rights.
Meanwhile, UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, said 1.1 million children this year are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition, also known as severe wasting, nearly double the number in 2018 and up from just under 1 million last year.
Severe wasting is the most lethal type of malnutrition, in which food is so lacking that a child’s immune system is compromised, according to UNICEF. They become vulnerable to multiple bouts of disease and eventually they become so weak they can’t absorb nutrients.