Mysterious explosion: Boy killed, four injured at Afghan refugee camp

Police say garbage must have contained toy bomb which was triggered by children, eyewitness contests police’s claim.

MANSEHRA:

A teenage boy was killed and four other people critically injured on Thursday when a bomb went off in an Afghan refugee camp.

Eyewitnesses said four Afghan boys were rummaging through garbage at the Khaki Afghan Refugee Camp when the bomb went off, killing one boy on the spot and injuring four others, including a schoolteacher. The deceased was identified as 13-year-old Najeebullah, and the injured as Muhammad Ali, schoolteacher Sajjad, 15-year-old Nehmatullah and 12-year-old Mehboobullah, the police said. The injured were moved to Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad where the condition of two was stated to be critical. Police said the garbage must have contained a toy bomb which was triggered by the children.

An eyewitness contested the police’s claim and said unidentified men hurled a grenade on the boys. DPO Khurram Rasheed stuck to the toy bomb story and said a bomb disposal unit has been called from Abbottabad to ascertain the cause of the blast.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2014.