Five children killed, 12 injured as mortar shell explodes in Lakki Marwat

PESHAWAR: At least five children were killed and 12 others injured after a mortar shell exploded in the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to sources, the incident took place in the jurisdiction of Lakki Marwat’s Saddar Police Station, where children found a mortar shell outside their house and brought it home.

The explosion occurred while the children were playing with it.

Local sources and government officials said that immediately after the explosion, all 17 injured were shifted to the nearby city hospital via ambulances, where five injured children were pronounced dead.

The deceased children were reportedly between six and 12 years of age.

Soon after the incident, local administration officials reached the city hospital in Lakki Marwat and directed the hospital staff to provide all possible medical assistance to the injured.

Meanwhile, police have launched an investigation into the incident.

Sources further said that this is the sixth such incident of a mortar shell explosion in Lakki Marwat in the past two months.

On June 29, an explosion occurred near a Pakistan Army vehicle in Wanda Simo area of Lakki Marwat, which left two soldiers martyred, and three more injured.

The vehicle they were travelling in was also completely destroyed in explosion. The explosion appeared to be an IED.