MUZAFFARABAD: A teenage boy was killed and his peer was injured in what officials say was a ‘dud shell’ explosion in Neelum Valley of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Thursday.

Sajawat, 13, son of Ibrahim, and a school friend, Akhlaq, son of Abdul Rehman, found the ‘toy bomb’ in Kali Gatti village of Subhai Doodnial, around 125 kilometres northeast of Muzaffarabad, in the upper belt of Neelum Valley, police official Mohammad Farooq told Dawn via telephone.

The toy-bomb explosion killed Sajwat on the spot and critically injured Akhlaq, who is being treated at a military-run health facility in the area, Farooq added.

The incident, however, is not an anomaly for those living along the Line of Control, which has been the scene of regular skirmishes and artillery duels, even after Indian and Pakistani troops struck a historic cease-fire accord in November 2003.

A number of casualties have occurred along the unmarked dividing line where residents, mostly children, either play with “dud shells” or “bomblets” out of ignorance.

According to military officials, dud shells are ammunition that fail to fire or explode, whereas bomblets are parts of a medium artillery shell, often spread out in a targeted area after a shell explodes.

Bomblets usually remain activated from 24 to 48 hours.

But in some cases, it takes quite some time before bomblets become passive. The size of the oval-shaped explosives range from 4 to 5 inches, and because of their shape, they are also referred to as ‘toy bombs’ by villagers.

Areas along the LoC were littered with dud shells and bomblets prior to the November 2003 Indo-Pak agreement, but their numbers began decreasing considerably afterwards.

Yet given the sporadic incidents of cease-fire violations by Indian troops, these misfired explosives are still found in some areas along the dividing line and cause casualties, notwithstanding frequent warnings by the authorities against touching them.

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