Afghanistan, anti-tank mine explodes: killed 10 girls

KABUL – They were gathering wood, when they must have triggered and detonated an anti-tank mine: 10 Afghan girls, aged between 9 and 13, died near the village of Dawlatzai, in Nangahar province. The mine exploded when she was accidentally hit with an ax by one of the girls. Two other girls are seriously injured and are in critical condition in the hospital. This was reported by the governor of the Chaparhar district, Mohammad Sediq Dawlatzai, according to whom the device would be a war remnant dating back to the war against the former Soviet Red Army.

According to the provincial government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the mine was instead planted by Taliban militias. The violent explosion has at the moment made it impossible to recognize the bodies of the victims.

(December 17, 2012)