At least 6 children were killed and 25 others injured from grenade explosion in Tanzania

The victims are being treated at a local hospital Photo: Shabani Nasibu

At least six children have been killed and 25 others injured in an explosion at a primary school in north-west Tanzania, witnesses say.

Reports say the pupils were playing with a grenade they had found.

Three were pronounced dead at the time they arrived at hospital. Others succumbed to their wounds, Rulenge hospital's doctor in charge, Sister Maria Goreth Fredricks, told the BBC.

The school is in Kagera region near the border with Burundi.

According to BBC's Leonard Mubali in Tanzania, the region hosts refugees from neighbouring Burundi, some of them ex-soldiers, who could have abandoned their weapons in the area.

He says that the device that exploded is likely to be a grenade.

Kagera regional police chief Augustine Orome said a security team had been dispatched to the school in Kihinga village.

Our reporter adds that the region is also a transit point for arms and it is not uncommon for residents to come across weapons.