2 children killed in unexploded ordnance blast in W. Afghanistan

KABUL, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Two children lost their lives as an explosive device left over from past wars went off in Qadis district of western Afghanistan's Badghis province late Monday, a local police official reported on Tuesday.

The kids found a toy-like object and began playing with it, but the device exploded, killing the children on the spot, provincial police spokesman Sediqullah Sediqi said.

About 1,150 square kilometers of territory in Afghanistan remain polluted with landmines and unexploded explosive devices, authorities from the National Disaster Management Authority reported in April.

The war-torn Afghanistan is one of the most landmine-contaminated countries in the world, with dozens of people, mostly children, being killed or maimed every month due to the blasts of explosive devices left over from wars in the past decades. ■