QUETTA: Three teenage boys died and two others suffered injuries in a hand-grenade explosion that occurred near a seminary in the Kharotabad area on Thursday.

The officials of the Counter Terrorism Depart­ment (CTD) said that the boys, aged between 13 and 18 years, were passing through a graveyard while on their way home when they found the device.

“It was a hand-grenade, which exploded when boys started playing with it,” the CTD spokesman said, adding that splinters hit the children, killing three of them on the spot and injuring the two.

Police and CTD personnel rushed to the scene of the incident and shifted the bodies and the injured to Bolan Medical College Hospital (BMCH).

“We have received three bodies and two injured,” BMCH spokesman said.

Rozi Khan, father of one of the deceased, said his son and nephews had gone to take a bath in a pond. While returning to home, they found the grenade which went off when his son was playing with it, he added.

The deceased were identified as Mohammad Ikran, 18; Adnan, 15; and Shista Khan, 13. The injured were Ehsanullah and Izzatullah.

The bodies were handed over to the bereaved families after completing medico-legal formalities.

Police and CTD officials were investigating the case.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2021