APD | Afghanistan: Mine blast kills nine children

By APD writer Rishika Chauhan

In a mine blast on Saturday, nine Afghani children were killed. The blast took place in Takhar province, in north eastern part of the country.

In a Reuters report Khalil Asir, a spokesman for the provincial police was quoted explaining,“This area is under Taliban control and since security forces launched attacks to clear it, the Taliban have planted anti-personnel mines.”

“Unfortunately, today, one of those mines exploded and killed nine primary school students,” he added.

The age of children ranged from 9 to 12 years. According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan thousands of people have been killed in Taliban violence so far.

The number of civillian casualities has been estimated around 4,313. Previously, the attempts to reach a peace deal between Taliban and US had failed.

This year the number of civillian deaths has increased, the increase is estimated to be around 42 per cent.

“The toll included more than 1,000 deaths, the bloodiest period since the mission began collecting figures in 2009. It brought the number of civilian casualties for the first nine months of the year to more than 8,000,” the report explained further.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)