Two children killed by unexploded ordnance in Babil while playing

BABIL — Two children were killed and two others injured Tuesday when a piece of unexploded ordnance detonated in the Alexandria subdistrict of Babil governorate as they were playing on a dirt road.

Babil Police Command said explosives experts were dispatched to the scene, where additional unexploded ordnance including cluster munitions was found and cleared by civil defense teams. The two injured children were transferred to Alexandria General Hospital.

The incident is part of a persistent pattern of civilian casualties from unexploded ordnance across Iraq. In January 2026, two children were injured in Diyala when a landmine exploded in a residential alley in Khanaqin. In February 2025, three children were killed in Basra when a landmine exploded while they were playing soccer near a shrine. In June 2025, five children were injured in Salah al-Din when a foreign object exploded near their home in Dujail. Older cases include a child in Dhi Qar critically injured by a cluster munition while tending livestock, an 8-year-old girl killed in Basra after handling an unexploded device and two children killed by a hand grenade in Anbar after finding it while playing.

Authorities have repeatedly warned that ordnance left over from past conflicts continues to pose a deadly risk across rural and urban areas of Iraq.