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Russian Girl Dies After Civil War-Era Shell Explodes

The two children had been playing outside the girl's parents' house when the explosion occurred nearby.

A 9-year-old girl in Russia's Perm region has died of her injuries following an explosion likely to have been caused by an artillery shell dating back to Russia's Civil War, regional investigators said Saturday.

A 12-year-old boy who was also injured in the blast has been hospitalized, the online statement by the regional branch of the Investigative Committee said.

The two children had been playing outside the girl's parents' house when the explosion occurred nearby. The artillery shell, which dated back to the 1918-1920 Civil War that broke out following the Bolshevik Revolution, had possibly been collected as scrap metal by the girl's parents, the statement said.

A negligent homicide case has been opened into the incident, investigators said.

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