Two children have been killed and six people injured in eastern DR Congo after a grenade found during a bird hunt exploded, local officials said Tuesday.
A group of young men had been hunting birds in a field near Ndunda, in the Ruzizi plains of South Kivu province, when they stumbled upon a grenade.
“These children took a device that they confused with a toy, did not know it was a grenade, and exploded,” said Gerard Matibu Mupanzi, a local official.
He added that a three-year-old girl died in the blast on Monday afternoon, while an 11-year-old boy died of his injuries in the morning.
Six other people, including three children, were injured in the accident.
Lieutenant Marc Elongo, Congolese military spokesman, told AFP that an army team had gone to Ndunda to investigate the incident.
More than 120 armed groups roam the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, many of them a legacy of regional wars that erupted at the turn of the century.
Elie Vagheni, who works for the United Nations Mine Action Service in the region, suggested that armed groups were to blame for lax regulations.