Yemen children killed and injured after pupil brings unexploded ordnance to school

Two children were killed and eight critically wounded when an unexploded bomb went off at a school in the rebel-held Yemeni capital, the United Nations children’s agency said.

A child had found the bomb and brought it to Al-Fatah school in the Hamdan district of Sana’a on Wednesday, April 3 to show friends, UNICEF said on Thursday.

Mines still kill children in #Yemen ⚠️

Yesterday, 2 children were killed by an unexploded ordnance in a school in Sana’a and 7 critically injured. @UNICEF provides medical treatment and support for children and their families.#IMAD2019 #MineAwarenessDay pic.twitter.com/Vx3IwP6WZx

— UNICEF Yemen (@UNICEF_Yemen) April 4, 2019

The casualties were aged between 12 and 14.

Children often fall victim to unexploded ordnance, failing to fully appreciate the dangers.

“It is highly likely, as we’ve seen in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, that children will continue to be killed even when there’s a lull in violence or the violence comes to an end,” said UNICEF’s regional chief of communications, Juliette Touma.

In 2018, 38 children were killed and 190 injured across Yemen by unexploded ordnances, mines and explosive remnants of war, according to UNICEF.

The World Health Organization estimates nearly 10,000 Yemenis have been killed since 2015, when Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened to prevent the defeat of the government in the face of a rebel offensive.

Human rights groups say the real death toll is several times higher.

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) has recorded more than 67,600 conflict-related fatalities in Yemen from January 2016 through the end of February 2019.

The conflict has pushed millions of Yemenis to the brink of mass starvation, in what the U.N. has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

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With reporting from AFP