Freezing cold kills 67 Afghan children

Most of the victims are children in rural areas as well as refugee camps in the capital Kabul, public health minister Mohammad Amin Fatemi told AFP.

"We have two types of reports -- one unconfirmed reports from the local authorities which is quite large -- up to hundreds," he said. "And we have confirmed reports -- 67 children and mothers have died of cold weather".

He said that 39 of the casualties were reported from the Karwar district in Logar province, south of Kabul, while others were in remote villages in northern and central Afghanistan.

Authorities in Kabul had earlier said that at least six people had died of cold in a refugee camp near the capital, where the temperature has dropped to minus 18 degrees Celsius (minus 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit) during the nights.

Three children died of cold weather last night in a refugee camp in southeastern Paktia province, local police chief Hay Gul Slimankhil told AFP. Another six or seven were taken to hospital.

Fatemi said his ministry was preparing for an emergency operation to take medicines and other supplies to the affected areas, some of which were inaccessible by road.

"We have to take the supplies by helicopters," the minister said.

The minister said that more than 900 children mainly suffering from respiratory infections, pneumonia and whooping cough were being treated in government-run hospitals in Kabul.

Meanwhile hundreds of people are thought to be stranded because of heavy snow, ice and avalanches affecting national highways, according to the authorities.

The US-led coalition, based in Afghanistan to hunt down militants after toppling the Taliban in 2001, said it was called in to help out after a pile-up on a snowbound road in northern Afghanistan, the military said.