A look inside the horrific trauma Afghan children face from thousands of landmines scattered across the country (PHOTOS)

Legs and arms are blown off if hit by a landmine.

Shocking photographs have revealed the haunting legacy that decades of war that has left behind. Millions of landmines in schools and fields kill and damage dozens of children every day.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - According to estimates, up to a million people have become victims to the sleeping weapons, which also takes lives and injures many of innocent Afghan children every day.  

It's believed there are 10 million mines currently spread around the impoverished country, which British and American forces left last year after a campaign lasting more than a decade. However, the majority of the mines  all over the country, remain from a war with Russia that ended in 1989.

The most notorious mine used during the Soviet Union's occupation period was the "butterfly" mine, covered in green plastic making many children mistake it for a toy. It's not known exactly how many of the mines were dropped, but it is believed that helicopter crews showered millions of the small mines from the air.

The merciless weapons are intentionally manufactured to cause damage, with a small charge that is usually non-lethal, instead it is designed to destroy a part of the lower leg to hamper a person's mobility for the rest of their life. The weapons were designed to flutter to the ground without exploding, but when stepped on, they take anything from one to 40 minutes to detonate.

Today, mine clearance teams in Afghanistan still find literally dozens of types of landmines, mainly from the former Soviet Union, but also from other parts of Europe such as Belgium, Britain and Italy. Some are also found to be from the United States.

Several de-mining organizations are now working in various places inside Afghanistan, but the clearing process is a slow and arduous one. It will take several weeks to be able to clear a small piece of land as de-miners carefully scan the terrain inch by inch.

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