Projectile event in Helmand, Khanashin area, Afghanistan on Wed 20th May 2026

Two children were killed and their mother injured after unexploded ordnance detonated in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, Taliban police command said.

The explosion occurred Wednesday morning in Khanashin district after the children found an artillery shell left behind from past conflicts and brought it home, the Taliban police command in Helmand said.

Local residents said the incident happened when the children threw the shell into a fire, triggering the explosion.

The victims were 3 and 10 years old, the sources said. Their mother was wounded and taken to a hospital for treatment.

Afghanistan remains heavily contaminated by land mines and unexploded ordnance after more than four decades of war, with children among the most vulnerable victims because they often mistake explosive remnants for toys or scrap metal.

Recent figures released by the Taliban’s disaster management authority showed that at least 96 people were killed and 328 wounded in mine and unexploded ordnance incidents across Afghanistan over the past year.

According to the agency, 225 incidents involving mines and unexploded explosives were recorded between March 2025 and March 2026, leaving 474 people dead or injured.

Children accounted for most of the casualties, with 321 child victims compared with 153 adults, the data showed.

Kunar province recorded the highest number of incidents with 40 cases, followed by Farah with 23. Nangarhar, Herat and Kandahar were also among the provinces reporting high numbers of mine-related accidents.

International aid organizations and demining agencies have repeatedly warned that unexploded ordnance continues to pose a major threat to civilians, particularly in rural areas where decades of conflict left large quantities of abandoned explosives.

Humanitarian organizations say funding shortages and declining international assistance have also slowed demining operations in parts of the country.