Representative image Photo: AP Representative image Photo: AP

At least three children, including two brothers, were killed on Monday when a toy bomb exploded in Pakistan's restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The tragic incident happened in the Jani Khel area of Bannu's Wazir subdivision.

Local sources report that the children were on their way home from the madrassa when the mortar shell explosion took place and claimed the lives of three students, including two brothers.

The mortar shell was lying in an abandoned area. The children, mistaking it for a toy, picked it up leading to a powerful explosion.

Dozens of children, mostly in northwest Pakistan, have lost their lives in the past when playing with “toys” that turned out to be explosive devices.

“Toy” bombs were airdropped in neighbouring Afghanistan by Soviet forces during the 1980s as weapons against those who opposed their invasion.

South Waziristan is also one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal areas, where the Army has for more than a decade been battling militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The Army launched an operation in June 2014 in neighbouring North Waziristan to wipe out militant bases in the tribal areas and end an insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives.ph646

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