Five people, including three children, were killed by an abandoned bomb in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, according to local sources on Wednesday.

The tragedy occurred at around 6:30 PM Monday in Nanshan Village of Haiyuan County, when villagers Yang Wanfang and Yang Zhongfa, both 28 years old, were trying to dismantle a column-shaped rusted iron bomb in their kitchen.

The bomb, 70 centimeters long and 15 centimeters in diameter, exploded, collapsing the wood-and-earth kitchen, killing the two men and three boys beside them and burying two girls. The girls were later rescued with only slight injuries.

One of the boys was Yang Zhongfa's son and the other two were neighbors' children, all aged between 6 and 15.

Windows of a nearby house were shattered and fragments of the bomb have left several holes in a brick wall.

The Yangs brought the bomb back from Inner Mongolia where they worked and hoped to sell it as scrap metal.

Police are investigating but it is not yet known what type of bomb it was or when the bomb was made.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2007)