BAL’AD, Somalia Aug 28 2012 (Garowe Online) – Six children were killed on Monday after a dormant explosive blew up near a school in the district of Bal’ad, Garowe Online reports.

The children were playing with the explosive near a Quranic School in the district of Bal’ad 40 kms North West of Mogadishu, when the explosive detonated killing 6 and injuring close to 10.

The tragic incident occurred as some of the kids were attending the Quranic School while the other children were playing outside the school. Some children as low as the age 8 were seriously injured in the blast.

The Governor of middle Shabelle region Abdi Jinow Alasow who spoke to media said that the explosion rocked the town of Bal’ad.

“The explosion was very big it’s hard to tell at this time how many casualties there could be, because there were many critical injuries,” said Governor Abdi.

According to Bal’ad residents the scene of the explosion was devastating.

“After we heard the explosion we rushed to the scene where we saw bodies of children scattered, it was just horrific,” Mohamed Abdi whose nephew narrowly escaped the explosion after leaving the school to play football with friends.

The district of Bal’ad was captured by Somali and African Union forces in June from Al Shabaab. The explosive according to local sources was dormant, but was not removed despite allied forces taking over the town.

GAROWE ONLINE