Six children from the same family have been killed and another was injured after a hand grenade they mistook for a toy exploded in Pakistan.

The children, aged five to 12, were playing near their home in the town of Hangu, in the north west of the country, when the grenade they were playing with blew up, officials said.

Syed Ahmed Jan, a senior local administration official, added: ‘The children were playing with a hand grenade they found on nearby open ground.’

The area is rife with violence and tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims.

Earlier this month a 14-year-old boy tackled a suicide bomber and died at the main gate of his school in the town, saving schoolmates who had gathered for their morning assembly.

 Անկախ