Nine schoolchildren were killed when a popcorn stand exploded in Nangahar province in eastern Afghanistan, authorities said on Monday (January 10th).
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Different versions were put forward to explain this accident, with some claiming that a gas cylinder had exploded while others suggested that an old mortar shell, offered as a means of payment, had detonated.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Kabul, Aqil Jan Ezzam, said the number of schoolchildren killed was nine.
Qari Noor Mohammad Hanif, a Taliban official in the province, told AFP that the popcorn seller also died and at least four people were taken to hospital.
