Cold kills 35 Afghan children in northeast: official

Severe cold weather has killed 35 children in the past two days in northeastern Afghanistan, an official said Monday.

The children died in four remote districts of Badakhshan province after the roads to districts were closed by heavy snow.

"Thirty five children died as a result of pneumonia caused by severe weather in Badakhshan in the past two days," Dr Noor Khawrin a provincial public health official told AFP.

"We have only been able to set up some emergency mobile clinics recently to help the kids there."

Afghanistan, a landlocked and mountainous country, has suffered its coldest winter in 15 years.

On February 19, the public health ministry said the severe weather had killed almost 40 children in the country over the course of one month.

More than half came from refugee camps on the outskirts of Kabul, which house thousands of Afghans fleeing war and Taliban intimidation in southern Afghanistan, according to officials.