Landmine kills 4 children in Babel

BABEL / IraqiNews.com: Four children on Saturday were killed in a landmine explosion in northern Babel province, a local security source said. “On Saturday, four children were killed in a landmine explosion while they were playing football near al-Iskandriya disitrct (50 km north of Hilla),” the source told IraqiNews.com. The source did not provide further details. Babel, a Shiite province that lies 100 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has an area of 6,468 square kilometers (2,497.3 sq mi), with an estimated population of 1,385,783 people in 2003. The provincial capital is the town of al-Hilla. The ancient ruins of Babylon (Babil, after which the region is named) are also in the province. SS (P) 1