NYERI, August 4 – A boy has been killed and another injured after a gadget believed to be an unexploded bomb detonated up at the Ol-donyiro area in Isiolo.
John Leseketi, 12, died on the spot, when the gadget that is thought to have been abandoned by British army soldiers during military training in the area, exploded.
Leseketi and his brother Losiga Lekaadad, 14, were playing with the ordinance when the incident occurred.
Lekaadad has been admitted to the Isiolo District Hospital with serious burns and fractured limbs.
The boys had been grazing cattle near the Eloikanjau River when they found the device.
According to a military officer, Saitoti Neterewa who was part of the team that went to the scene, the gadget may have exploded when the boy hit it with a stone at around 1pm on Sunday.
Neterewa said the explosion was massive, because the deceased boy’s body was blown to pieces.
Military officers were still on the ground on Monday evening carrying out investigations.
Archers Post ward councillor Raphael Lekilwai said the blast occurred within the Lolesoro area, where the British army conducts jungle military manoeuvres for four months every year.
Lekilwai said 13 people, mostly children, have died in the same area over the last one year.
He accused both the British Army and the Department of Defence of failing to mop up the area of unexploded ordinances.
About The Author
