A 12-year-old boy was killed and his older brother injured in Bosnia on Thursday in the explosion of a landmine left over from the country's 1992-1995 war, national radio reported.

The boy, his 26 years old brother and their father were picking apples when they accidently activated the mine in the area of the northern town of Gracanica, it said.

The area was not marked as a minefield.

Almost 15 years since the war ended, over three percent of Bosnia's territory is estimated to be littered with landmines.

The country had more than 1,600 victims of accidents involving mines since 1996, including some 480 killed, according to official figures.

Experts estimate that clearing of landmine-infested areas of the mountainous former Yugoslav republic would take several decades