Eight members of one Iraqi family, including three woman and two children, were killed Thursday when an old mine brought home by one of their children exploded inside their house, police said.
The incident occurred in the morning in al-Bataha, a rural area near Nasiriyah, about 350 kilometres (220 miles) south of Baghdad, Ali Siwan, a police officer with the city's bomb disposal unit, told AFP.
"A child from this family found an old mine and was holding it and hitting the bomb and it exploded," said Siwan.
One other family member was injured, he added.
The explosive material is now being analysed to determine whether the mine was laid by the former Iraqi army or Italian troops who were stationed in Nasiriyah from the US-led invasion of 2003 until December 2006.
