GHOTKI: Thirteen-year-old Fida Hussain and nine-year old Wakeel were killed in a grenade explosion in Ghotki's Faisal Kolachi village on Friday.

According to police sources, the two children were playing outside their home with a hand-grenade which they had perceived as a toy when a loud explosion occurred. Hussain died on the spot whereas Wakeel was rushed to Civil Hospital Ghotki where he succumbed to his injuries.

Panic spread in the area after the incident and police started an investigation and began gathering evidence. How the children came across the grenade is yet to be determined.

Ghotki is a district in Pakistan's southern Sindh province, the rural parts of which have remained relatively peaceful although still witness to a low-level separatist insurgency. The separatist movement, mostly underground, has been gaining strength in recent years. Separatists are also alleged to have resorted to tactics such as blowing up train tracks within the province and other sabotage activities.

Religious extremism has also been on the rise in rural Sindh in the past few years.

Editorial: Extremism in Sindh

Sectarian groups have enlisted approximately 25,000 members across the province outside Karachi. The northern districts of Shikarpur, Khairpur and Ghotki, which are closest to the sectarian groups’ original bases in Punjab, are at the highest risk.