KOHAT: Six children were killed in Hangu on Sunday when a hand grenade went off near their home.

According to police, the children had found the grenade in garbage outside a neighbour’s house and started playing with it.

One girl and five boys were injured in the explosion. They were taken to the district headquarters hospital in Hangu, but doctors pronounced them dead. The children were identified as Zakia Bibi, Hazrat and Mohib, daughter and sons of Mohammad Din Gul, and Asif, Ashiq and Ishaq, sons of Zar Gul. Their ages ranged between six and 12 years.

Police and security forces cordoned off the area to collect evidence.

Landmines and hand-grenades have claimed an untold number of lives, mainly those of women and children, in Hangu and Kurram Agency.

Agencies add: The unfortunate family had migrated from the neighbouring Orakzai Agency, where the army is battling the Taliban.

Hangu itself is regularly targeted by militants. Aitezaz Hassan, a schoolboy from a nearby village, sacrificed his life to stop a suicide bomber, saving the lives of his classmates earlier this month.