Mortar shell kills 4 school children in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan

At least four students were killed in Afghanistan as a mortar shell hit their school in restive Ghazni province, an official statement said on Saturday.

According to the statement issued by the provincial administration, a boys’ high school in the Andar district was hit by a mortar shell from unknown direction killing four students and injuring 13 others.

It noted fighting was underway between the security forces and the Taliban in the area when this incident took place.

This came a week after 13 civilians, including 10 children, were killed in an airstrike by foreign troops in the northern Kunduz province.

“An airstrike conducted by international military forces on the night of Friday to Saturday (Mar. 22 and Mar. 23) in Kunduz in support of pro-Government forces on the ground killed 13 civilians and injured three more,” UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement on Monday, Mar. 25.

A pattern of mounting civilian casualties in the raging Afghan conflict has caused grim concerns. Carrying dead bodies, residents of Kunduz held a protest demonstration last week against the deadly airstrikes in the country.

With the record 3,804 civilians, including 927 children, killed in this conflict in 2018 -- a clear indicator of intensification of violence -- the UN last month called for urgent need to seize opportunities for peace in Afghanistan.