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Six Iraqi Children Killed Playing with Bomb

Wednesday, May 14, 2003
(10:37 AM)
Reuters

LONDON -- Reuters
Six Iraqi children were killed and 10 injured when an Iraqi bomb they were trying to dismantle exploded, the British Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

The accident happened on Monday in the north of the southern Iraqi city of Basra, which has been under British control since the end of the U.S.-invasion of Iraq.

"It seems the children were trying to get the copper out of an Iraqi munition when it exploded," a spokeswoman said. In Basra itself, the United Nations said the accident showed how serious the problem of unexploded bombs was in Iraq.

"This tragedy highlights the terrible danger that unexploded ordnance represents for everybody, especially children," United Nations spokesman David Wimhurst told reporters.

American and British forces are in the process of collecting and destroying unexploded enemy ammunition across the country.
(Source: Netscape Network News)
2003 © Reuters, Ltd.

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