A third Afghan child died Tuesday, following a deadly blast that is being blamed on Canadian troops.
The child has been identified by hospital officials as four-year-old Juma Gul.
The explosion killed two other Afghan children when it went off on Monday.
Juma Gul was injured in the explosion and was taken to Kandahar hospital for treatment of shrapnel wounds, which eventually proved to be fatal.
The exact circumstances of the explosion are unclear, but an Afghan provincial police official said the children were likely scavenging for bits of metal when the blast occurred.
According to some villagers, the blast came from an unexploded shell that was left behind by Canadian soldiers who were conducting target practice in the area.
The children may have picked it up, unaware of the danger.
"Unfortunately it seems they grabbed a large bit of ordinance and that bit of ordinance exploded," The Globe and Mail's Graeme Smith told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday.
But Jhazi Thor Jan, the father of 13-year-old Sardar Walli, one of those who died, said Tuesday that his son wasn't killed by an abandoned shell but was hit by a stray rocket fired by Canadian soldiers.
"When they were firing our children stayed in the house and when they finished practicing our children came outside. After that they fired again," he said.
"The rocket landed and exploded and killed our children. They are lying."
However, some village elders said they couldn't confirm that version of events and were unsure of the origins of the explosive.
Afghan elders in the tiny, grief-stricken village of Saleha reacted with anger on Monday, blaming the Canadians and chanting "death to Canada."
The families were so upset that they collected the bodies of the two children who died on Monday, put them in a motorcycle sidecar, and drove into downtown Kandahar to show the mutilated remains to reporters.
"That's something they normally wouldn't do," Smith said. "They're busy washing the bodies and trying to get them a proper burial as soon as possible. But these villagers wanted to make a point, they wanted to say 'Look you're hurting us.'"
Artillery testing
The Canadian military has confirmed troops were carrying out artillery testing in the region.
They have strict protocols about performing sweeps after such operations to ensure no explosives are left behind. An inquiry is now being conducted by the National Investigation Service into what may have gone wrong.
Afghan Ambassador to Canada Omar Samad told Canada AM the incident is tragic, but lessons can be learned from it. He suggested military firing ranges should be located far from residential areas.
"Whatever we do, we need to make sure we don't lose the faith and the goodwill of the people," Samad said.
