Lalitpur, August 3:

Explosives left unattended killed four children and caused injuries to many during 100 days of ceasefire, a report titled ‘Children Still Neglected in 100 Days of Democracy’ said today, adding that five children were killed and 25 children were injured in blasts during four months of the conflict preceding the ceasefire.

The report was made public today by the Children as a Zone of Peace.

“Explosives were used intentionally during the conflict,” it said. “Thirty-five persons were caught in sudden blasts in fields and on school premises during the three months of the ceasesire,” it said, adding, “Thirty out of the 35 caught in the blasts were children.”

Of the 30 children, 24 were boys, some of them Maoist cadres, suffered as the explosives went off when they were carrying them on their backs, playing with them, taking them as toys and batteries. The report stressed the need to educate children about the dangers of explosives.

Four children killed in the blasts were from Dhading, Rupandehi, Surkhet. Sixty-five children, who sustained injuries in the blasts that occurred during the ceasefire, were from Dhading, Surkhet, Palpa, Sindupalchwk, Udaypur, Sindhuli, Tanahu, Rupandehi, Kavre, Kailali and Morang districts.

Explosives have harmed children directly and indirectly. Some children even brought socket bombs home, taking them as toys and batteries. The Maoists used schools and its premises as a safe haven for organising their programmes.

The report has stressed the need to pull out sentry posts based on school premises immediately.