March 26 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) denounced this Sunday the death, last week, of eight children in Afghanistan due to the explosion of ammunition abandoned in Afghanistan and sounded the alarm about a crisis that last year left some 700 children killed or maimed in the Central Asian country.
“The children lost their lives when they were playing with this ammunition or while they were collecting scrap metal,” the United Nations agency lamented in a statement posted on its Twitter account. “UNICEF offers its heartfelt condolences to the children’s families and friends,” she adds.
The agency recalls that at least two children died or were injured on average per day in 2022 in the country by ammunition that has remained unexploded after decades of war, either rockets or antipersonnel mines.
“UNICEF is increasing mine risk education efforts to educate children, caregivers and communities. We are also providing psychosocial support to affected families/children,” adds the fund, which calls for a “common effort to completion of demining tasks, mine risk education and victim assistance for those affected”.
