Land Mine Blast Kills Three Children in Idlib, Syria

Three young children were killed and four others wounded in northwest Syria on Thursday when a land mine exploded as they played near a well. The blast in the village of Abu Habbah, in Idlib province, claimed the lives of 6-year-old Amir al-Ridah and two siblings, 4-year-old Aya al-Fankih and 6-year-old Rayan al-Fankih.

The Syrian Civil Defense confirmed the casualties. A local resident, Mahmoud al-Aleiwi, said he heard a very loud explosion and that when he arrived at the scene, children's bodies were scattered around the well. He reported that one child was thrown approximately 300 meters by the force of the blast and was found on the roof of a house. At a nearby hospital, wounded children were treated for shrapnel wounds and other injuries.

The incident is the latest in a grim pattern of deaths and injuries caused by unexploded ordnance left over from Syria's conflict, which began in March 2011 and has left an estimated half a million people dead. Humanitarian organizations describe these remnants as one of the war's deadliest legacies.

Ten-year-old Ibrahim al-Suwadi, injured last month in a separate explosion in the town of al-Habit, described finding an unexploded device...