8 dead, including 4 children, after rocket launcher shell explodes in Sindh’s Kandhkot tehsil

Eight people, including four children, lost their lives while three others were injured on Wednesday when a rocket launcher’s shell exploded in a house in Mehwal Shah area of Kashmore district’s Kandhkot tehsil, police said.

Kashmore-Kandhkot Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rohil Khosa confirmed the casualties to Dawn.com, specifying that the deceased included four children, two women and a man.

He further said that the house — located in the limits of Goghat police station — belonged to Ali Nawaz Sabzoi, and that all the deceased and injured belonged to the same family.

SSP Khosa stated that the police had arrived at the site of the incident and had surrounded the area. He added that the injured also included children.

According to him, children found a rocket shell while playing at the ground and brought it home where it exploded, due to which eight people were killed. The SSP said further investigation was under way and an “emergency” had been declared at the Kandhkot Civil Hospital.

In a statement, Sindh Chief Minister Justice Maqbool Baqar took notice of the incident and sought a report from the provincial inspector general on “how a rocket launcher reached the Zangi Subzwai Goth”.

“Was any stock of weapons being smuggled to the kutcha areas? Are there enablers of the dacoits present in the goth (village)?”, the statement quoted him asking.

He wondered how the rocket launcher exploded, leading to a “loss of lives to this extent”.

Expressing his grief on the incident, he directed the IG, “A detailed report shall be submitted to me.”