An anti-Taliban warlord defended himself against government accusations and seething villagers today, a day after his cache of ammunition and explosives blew away a chunk of their hamlet in a remote Afghan valley.

Afghans buried their dead and surveyed the wreckage of their houses in the remote northern village of Bashgah today – a day after a devastating explosion in the home of an anti-Taliban warlord killed about 26 people.

AN ARMS cache hidden by an Afghan warlord exploded in a bunker beneath his home yesterday, killing 28 people and devastating surrounding buildings, officials said.

A warlord’s secret weapons cache exploded in a remote Afghan village today, flattening nearby houses and a mosque and killing at least 28 people in what appeared to be the deadliest accident of its kind since the fall of the Taliban.