A student picked up one of many unexploded munitions littering Somalia on Sunday, setting off a blast that killed four boys and injured six others, witnesses said.
The dead were aged between 10 and 16. Those injured lost limbs or suffered abdominal wounds in the explosion at Sabiid, a village in the central Somali region of Mudug, said Amed Mire, a nurse at the hospital where they are being treated.
Some witnesses said the explosion occurred when a boy picked up an artillery shell. Others said it was a grenade.
”The device … was left at the scene by clan militia fighters who fought recently in the region over a land dispute and other clan-related vendettas,” said witness Salad Dhore Ahmed.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since clan-based warlords ousted long-serving dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. They then turned on each other, sinking the Horn of Africa nation of 7-million into clan-based anarchy.
A new government was formed last year after tortuous negotiations, but has been meeting in neighbouring Kenya because it considers Somalia too dangerous. – Sapa-AP