KHYBER: A girl lost her life while three more girls sustained injuries in a land mine blast in Upper Bara area of Khyber on Thursday.

Sources in the region said that 12-year-old Aalia among with three other neighbouring girls were grazing their domestic animals in the nearby hills in Kandaw Jumaat locality when she mistakenly stepped on a land mine buried underground.

They said Aalia died on the spot while the remaining girls Fatima, Shahida and Shazeema sustained critical injuries. Local residents rushed to the site after hearing the blast and shifted the injured girls to a nearby medical facility.

Ahmadullah, father of the deceased girl, said later that they had been requesting local authorities for cleaning the land mines planted by suspect militants a decade ago but no action was taken so far.

He said local residents took their livestock for grazing while other collect firewood for their domestic use almost on daily basis and there was always a danger of such incidents as the area was infested with landmines which always posed a threat to their lives.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2024