Peshawar: Four students were injured after a ‘toy bomb’ exploded inside a private school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan, police said on Saturday.

According to the school administration, a fourth-grade student picked up what appeared to be a 'toy bomb' on his way to school in Jamrud tehsil 1 of Khyber district, near the Afghanistan border, on Friday. He carried it into his classroom, unaware of the danger.

'Toy bombs' are mortar shells lying abandoned in the province, especially along the areas bordering Afghanistan, often mistaken by children for a toy.

On Friday, the student who had taken the toy bomb inside his classroom dropped it on the floor, resulting in the explosion.

Police said the injured students were immediately shifted to a hospital in Peshawar, where they were provided treatment and later discharged.

Security personnel have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to locate and defuse other possible unexploded shells to prevent further casualties. Police said they have launched an investigation into the incident.

Last year on December 27, four young boys died and two were critically injured as an old mortar shell exploded in Bajaur district of the province.

Such incidents have repeatedly endangered local communities, particularly children, who often mistake the dangerous devices for harmless objects. Several of the tribal areas along the Afghanistan border are heavily mined and unexploded explosive devices are commonly found in open fields.

PTI