QUETTA: Three children playing in an abandoned house were killed after an improvised explosive device (IED) explo­ded in the Rehman Kahol area of Balochistan’s Chaman district, officials said on Friday.

Two children — identified as Abdul Mateen, 12, and Abdul Qudoos, 10 — were killed on the spot. The third one, seven-year-old Bashir Ahmed, was injured and initially shifted to a hospital in Chaman.

He was later referred to Quetta for treatment but died of his wounds while on the way.

Levies and Frontier Corps officials rushed to the site of the incident and cordoned off the area.

Chaman’s assistant com­missioner, Dr Abdul Salam, said the children might be playing with the object that exploded, or it might have been planted at the site. An investigation was underway, he said.

The house had remai­ned under the use of Afghan Tali­ban during US troops’ presence in Afghanistan, sources said.

However, after taking control of Kabul, they went back to Afghanistan, leaving many compounds abandoned.

A senior security official said a bomb disposal squad had been called to inspect the house, as the administration suspected more explosives inside the abandoned place house.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2023