Abandoned explosives kill four children in North Darfur

An explosion in El Sereif Beni Hussein locality in North Darfur killed four children on Sunday, February 21, after explosives and ammunition were abandoned at a border guard warehouse.

Nazir of the Beni Hussein tribe, Mohamed Ahmed Mahdi, told Radio Dabanga in an interview on Friday that border guards evacuated their positions in the locality to join the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Residents and children took the ammunition and explosives from the warehouse after it was evacuated, “unaware of the danger,” he said. The children, aged 9 to 12 years, were playing with one of the explosives when it detonated.

In January, another object in the same area exploded on a child, amputating his fingers, according to Nazir Mahdi. He called on the authorities to send specialists to close the site and collect ammunition.

A special joint Peace Shield Forces was deployed to El Sereif Beni Hussein, Saraf Omra, Kabkabiya, Kutum, and Tawila localities in North Darfur at the start of this month to protect civilians and to deal with the violence and lack of security in the state.

* A nazir is a state-appointed administrative chief of a tribe, according to the native administration system in Sudan