4 children killed in Uganda grenade explosion

 

A grenade explosion killed four children and injured five others Thursday in Maaji II Refugee Settlement in the northwestern Ugandan district of Adjumani, police said.

Local police in a statement said the children picked the explosive from the bush and took it home, where they were joined by other children.

The children were trying to cut the grenade with a panga when it exploded, “killing three children on spot and leaving six others in critical condition,” said the statement.

The six were rushed to a nearby health center where one child died and the five others were transferred to Adjumani Hospital for further treatment.

Police Public Relations Officer Josephine Anguncia says the grenades could have been left behind in the bushes by Konyi rebels who infested the area in late the 1980s to early 90s as Adjumani District by then was one of the areas harboring the rebels.

“Now, coupled with the burning of bushes in the dry spell, children are moving around the burnt bushes picking things anyhow for playing hence exposing them to such incidences,” Ms. Angucia said.

She advised the members of the community and dealers in scrap metals to guard against dealing with suspiciously looking metallic objects found in the bushes as they could be bombs.

“Parents should specifically advise their children not to play with such suspicious metal objects in order to prevent such deadly incidences. This more so applies to areas that were formerly habouring rebels. They should instead inform the area authorities, police, or army for proper management.”

Maaji II Refugee Settlement hosts more than 17,000 refugees from neighboring South Sudan, according to figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency.