Senior government official Khalid Khan Umarzai says Wednesday's blast appeared to be an accident. – File Photo

PESHAWAR: Police say four boys were killed while playing with an abandoned explosive device that went off in northwest Pakistan.

The children were playing near a pond in the garrison town of Kohat with what officials describe as a ''shell'' apparently from a mortar.

Senior government official Khalid Khan Umarzai says Wednesday's blast appeared to be an accident.

Militant and criminal gangs are active in the Kohat region, and all sorts of weapons, including landmines and grenades, can be found in the area.

Kohat also lies near the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, where al-Qaida and Taliban fighters have bases.

Opinion

Editorial

Trump 2.0
Updated 07 Nov, 2024

Trump 2.0

It remains to be seen how his promises to bring ‘peace’ to Middle East reconcile with his blatantly pro-Israel bias.
Fait accompli
07 Nov, 2024

Fait accompli

A SLEW of secretively conceived and hastily enacted legislation has achieved its intended result: the powers of the...
IPP contracts
07 Nov, 2024

IPP contracts

THE government expects the ongoing ‘negotiations’ with power producers aimed at revising the terms of sovereign...
Rushed legislation
Updated 06 Nov, 2024

Rushed legislation

For all its stress on "supremacy of parliament", the ruling coalition has wasted no opportunity to reiterate where its allegiances truly lie.
Jail reform policy
06 Nov, 2024

Jail reform policy

THE state is making a fresh attempt to improve conditions in Pakistan’s penitentiaries by developing a national...
BISP overhaul
06 Nov, 2024

BISP overhaul

IT has emerged that the spouses of over 28,500 Sindh government employees have been illicitly benefiting from BISP....