Kabul, Dec 16 A total of 137 people lost their lives and more than 330 others sustained injuries following the blasts of unexploded ordnances, remnants of past wars, across Afghanistan since the beginning of 2024, local media reported.
"As of the start of 2024, approximately 240 separate incidents have taken place in Afghanistan, resulting in a total of 470 fatalities, including 386 children who have been either martyred or injured," TOLOnews quoted Nooruddin Rustamkhil, head of the Directorate of Mine Action Coordination, as saying.
According to Rustamkhil, among the deceased, 125 children, 10 men, and two women were accounted for, while the injured comprised 264 children, 53 men, and 16 women.
During the same period, 150 square kilometers of land across the country have been cleared of unexploded mines, he added.
War-ravaged Afghanistan is reportedly one of the most landmine-contaminated countries in the world, with dozens of people, mostly children, being killed and maimed every month, Xinhua news agency reported.
In October, three children were killed and two others injured as an unexploded device went off in north Afghanistan's Sari Pul province.
The incident had taken place in the province's Sayad district when the children found a device which had been left over from past wars and played with it. The device exploded, killing the three kids on the spot and injuring two others.
In July, one child was killed four others injured in an explosion of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from past wars in south Afghanistan's Kandahar province.
The mishap took place in the province's Dand district.
Similarly in May, two children died and another injured after an unexploded device went off in north Afghanistan's Balkh province.
In April, nine children lost their lives after an unexploded ordnance left over from past wars went off in east Afghanistan's Ghazni province.
Similarly, following the blast of an unexploded device, three children were killed and two others sustained injuries in the southern Helmand province on March 22.
--IANS
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