Kabul: A teenager was seriously injured after an unexploded device left over from the past wars went off in eastern Afghanistan’s Ghazni province on Tuesday, said a statement of the provincial police office on Wednesday.
The gruesome incident occurred in Gilan district when the ill-fated boy found a toy-like object and began playing with it, but the device exploded, the statement added, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Afghanistan has been regarded as one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world.
On May 5, one person was killed and three others injured in a blast involving unexploded ordnance in Afghanistan’s Parwan province, local media reported citing a Taliban police statement.
The incident took place in Bagram district when a 20-year-old man tried to open a piece of unexploded ammunition, local Taliban authorities said in a statement. The man died in the blast while two girls and a boy were injured and taken to a hospital in Parwan, Afghanistan’s leading news agency Khaama Press reported.
At least 96 people were killed and 328 others were injured in Afghanistan in the past year due to explosions caused by mines and unexploded munitions, according to the data released by Taliban disaster management authorities.
According to the agency, 225 such incidents were reported between April 2025-March 2026, causing 474 casualties, which included 321 children and 153 adults, Khaama Press reported.
Unexploded ordnance poses a humanitarian risk in Afghanistan, particularly in rural and previously contested areas where remnants of war remain buried or undiscovered. Afghanistan’s provinces like Herat, Kunar, Farah, Nangarhar and Kandahar have reported some of the highest numbers of such incidents.
In February, two people were killed after an unexploded shell detonated in a house in Afghanistan’s Farah province, according to a statement released by the provincial police office.
The incident took place in Pusht-e-Koh district when an unexploded munition reportedly exploded after being struck in the residence. According to the statement, both victims died at the site of the incident.
Officials urged residents to exercise caution when encountering unexploded ordnance or other suspicious objects. They have urged people to promptly inform security authorities if they see similar objects.
(IANS)
