Five Pakistan children die playing with mortar ammo

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Five children died when a mortar shell they were playing with exploded in the southeastern city of Quetta, while a landmine killed four people in Pakistan’s Kurram tribal region on Tuesday, officials said.

Aside from the five children killed, five others were wounded. They all belonged to an Afghan family living in Quetta. Police said they found three more mortar rounds in the children’s home.

“We’re investigating where they got them from,” senior police officer Rematullah Niazi said.

Children were also killed when a passenger van hit a landmine on a road about 60 km (37 miles) east of Parachinar, Kurram’s main town.

“We have a confirmed report of four dead, including two children,” Ahsanullah Khan, a government officer in Parachinar, told Reuters.

Islamist militants, some linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda, operate in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal lands.