Children bear brunt of NATO’s unexploded Afghan bombs

Children bear brunt of NATO’s unexploded Afghan bombs | Afghanistan Times: Helmand is one of the worst-affected provinces, as well as shells and bombs there are 91 known minefields covering an area of 63.8 square kilometers.
The UN-backed Mine Action Coordination Center of Afghanistan (MACCA) recorded 369 casualties, including 89 deaths last year among the civilian Afghan population because of unexploded ordinance. In some cases, de-mining sappers themselves have been targeted directly by insurgents.
It’s often children that bear the brunt of the mess coalition forces have left behind. Last fall, four siblings were collecting firewood near their home when shells that had been lying there unexploded went off in the children’s hands, killing two of them instantly and injuring their two brothers.
The area had been used by US soldiers for battlefield training, but the area had not been marked.