28 killed as hidden arms cache explodes

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.

At least 70 people were injured, and there were fears that the death toll could rise. The weapons were stored in Bashgah, a village in Baghlan province, 75 miles north of Kabul, Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal said.

“It’s damaged the whole village, including the mosque and six houses,” Mr Mashal said.

He said wounded survivors had been rushed to hospitals and forecast that the death toll would rise.

Mr Mashal said the cache was hidden in a bunker under the house of a warlord and former government militia commander named Jalal Bashgah to conceal the weapons from a UN-sponsored disarmament drive. Mr Bashgah was believed among those killed, Mr Mashal said.

The cache included a large number of rockets and dated from “a long time ago”, Baghlan police chief General Fazeluddin Ayar said.

He said the commander had given up only a portion of his weapons to the disarmament programme, which has so far demobilised more than 50,000 former militiamen.

The country is awash with old weapons, many of them stored during the resistance against occupying Soviet forces during the 1980s.

Police and emergency teams rushed to the scene and evacuated those injured in the explosion, the ensuing fire and a series of secondary blasts.

The US military and the separate NATO-led force in Afghanistan report the discovery of old weapons caches almost daily.

Accidents are frequent and have inflicted casualties on foreign troops and Afghans alike.

Explosions involving landmines and unexploded ordnance are common.