Five children killed by landmine

Five children died today when they were blown up by a landmine designed to look like a toy.

Five children died today when they were blown up by a landmine designed to look like a toy.

The youngsters started playing with the device, which was lying in a field, as they returned from school in the north-western Pakistan town of Kharsappa.

Police are investigating the incident in the village, which is 12 miles from Peshawar, the capital of the Northwest Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan.

It was not clear where the landmine came from, but Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province was the staging arena for the Afghan insurgency against invading Soviet soldiers in the 1980s.

Thousands of children were wounded by bombs dropped by the former Soviet Union and disguised as toys. Afghanistan is considered one of the heaviest mined countries in the world.