18 Dec 2012

Village girls killed by explosion

6:05 am on 18 December 2012

An explosion killed 10 girls as they were collecting firewood in eastern Afghanistan on Monday.

Government officials said it was not immediately clear what caused the explosion in Dawlatzai, a farming village in Nangarhar province.

It could have been by a bomb planted by the Taliban, a landmine, or other unexploded ordnance left over from decades of conflict.

Hundreds of mourners prayed near their corpses, before they were buried.