Boy who lost limb to landmine in Afghanistan dances with joy after receiving prosthetic leg

KABUL, Afghanistan - A video of a little boy in Afghanistan dancing with happiness after receiving a new prosthetic leg has touched the hearts of many people around the world.

The video, posted to the International Committee of the Red Cross Afghanistan Facebook page, shows Ahmad Rahman dancing and lighting up the room.

Rahman, now 5, lost his leg in a landmine as a baby, the ICRC Afghanistan said.

“Ahmad Rahman lost his leg in a landmine in Logar province when he was only 8 months,” the Facebook post reads in an English translation. “After receiving the artificial limb in our Orthopedic center, he expresses his emotion with a dance and smile on the face.”

The video has received thousands of views and many comments from well-wishers since being posted on May 7.

“This is how his life changed and made him smile,” Roya Musawi, public relations officer for ICRC in Afghanistan, tweeted with the video.

The boy was wounded "during the fight between the government and Taliban in the village," Musawi said. One of his sisters was also injured in the attack.

Rahman has been traveling to the ICRC Afghanistan orthopedic center in Kabul for his prosthetic limbs, and the video of him dancing was recorded after he received his third prosthetic leg, according to Musawi.

Rahman is one of nine children in his family, according to Musawi. She added that the boy's father is suffering from a disease, which has left him bedridden.

Rahman is one of many patients who have become disabled from landmines, explosive remnants of war and gunshot wounds, according to an ICRC report. It has several orthopedic centers throughout Afghanistan, which provide patients with artificial limbs and other orthopedic devices, physiotherapy sessions and more.

In 2018, more than 12,000 afghans with disabilities sought assistance from the ICRC — a record number.

This story was reported from Los Angeles.