Rwamagana - Two children were seriously injured when a hand grenade they were playing with exploded.
The incident took place in Kigabiro sector of Rwamagana district yesterday.

Saleh Niyonzima, 14, sustained leg and arm injuries, while Antoine Ntwari, 4, is nursing injuries from the fragments in his body.

The children were rushed at Rwamagana Hospital immediately after the incident.
The children said that they found the hand grenade by the roadside.

Niyonzima told The New Times that they mistook the grenade for a scrap metal and hoped to sell it along with the scrap they had gathered.

"I was hitting it to detach the wooden part of it,” he narrated. "When I saw smoke coming out of it, I got scared and started running. I later found myself in the hospital in deep pain.”

Simon Rubanda the father of one of the injured children said that parents must caution their children.

"My child was staring at what the 14 year-old was doing to make money. Parents must warn the youth against reckless search of metals for sale,” he said.

Supt Alex Rutabayiru, Rwamagana District Police Commander, warned the public, particularly children against playing with anything they pick.
The new Rwamagana metal industry offers market for scrap.

"The way the industry collects scrap is risky, arms mistaken for scrap may explode one day and lead to heavy damages...who knows how many grenades or other explosives could be in the gathered scrap,” he warned.
The metal processing industry will start producing iron bars.

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