Grenade kills Ivorian children

A disarmament process began recently

Police in Ivory Coast say seven children, aged between four and 15, have been killed after a hand grenade they were playing with exploded.

Seven other children were injured, two of them seriously. Police say the explosion occurred at a school in Bondoukou in the north-east.

A child apparently removed the pin from one of two grenades they found nearby.

Bondoukou is close to the former front line of the five-year conflict that ended in March.

Two boys had picked up grenades near the school, local health worker Clement Assi told Reuters, and one of them had pulled the pin from the grenade he was holding.

The other boy had taken the second grenade home to his father, who handed it over to the police, Mr Assi said.

"The age of the children killed is between around four and 15 years. Among the injured, two were seriously hurt and five only slightly," Mr Assi said.

In March, Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo reached a peace agreement with Guillaume Soro, whose rebels seized the northern half of the country in 2002.

Mr Soro was appointed prime minister in a power-sharing government.

Rebels and government soldiers began a disarmament process in December.