Six dead in security firm blast

A powerful explosion wrecked an office of an American security house in Kabul today, killing up to six people, officials said.

The blast hit the office of Dyncorp, a private firm which protects Afghan President Hamid Karzai and works for the US government in Iraq, said Nick Downie of the Afghanistan NGO Security Office.

Downie said he and others who rushed to the scene pulled five to six people from the building with serious injuries, including several US citizens.

“We’re looking at a similar number who died, a mixture of Afghans and internationals,” said Downie, a former British soldier who advises relief groups on security. “Some were obviously Dyncorp staff.”

He said the exact nationalities of the victims were unclear.

A US Embassy spokeswoman said she had no information on casualties in the incident.

The blast occurred in the Shar-e Naw district of central Kabul, an area with offices of international organisations and guesthouses used by their staff.

The building was burning fiercely after the explosion. Windows were blown out of surrounding houses.

Residents said a boy living in a neighbouring house and a cobbler whose stall was blown away by the blast were also killed, and up to eight others wounded.

“It was a very, very big explosion, and there were a lot of injured,” said Ahmad Emal, a young shopkeeper watching from behind the police cordon.

The charred wreckage of a car was also visible in front of the house. Afghans crowded round what appeared to be the engine block several hundred yards away, suggesting the explosion might have been caused by a car-bomb.

“There was a crater right in front of the office door,” Downie said. “There’s not much doubt about the target.”

Security officials have issued several warnings in recent weeks of possible car-bomb and suicide attacks in the Afghan capital.

NATO forces who patrol the capital have warned that anti-government militants, including the ousted Taliban, could try to mount spectacular attacks in a bid to disrupt upcoming elections.

Officials from the international force could not be reached immediately for comment.

Last night an explosion ripped through a school in south-eastern Afghanistan, killing nine children and one adult, the US military said.

An Afghan official said the blast in Paktia province was caused by a bomb, though the military said it was still unclear.

“There was an explosion, that’s all we know,” American spokeswoman Master Sgt. Ann Bennett said. “Killed were four children, five teenagers and one adult.”

An eight-year-old boy injured in the blast was taken to an American military base for treatment, Bennett said.

Paktia governor Asadullah Wafa said eight children aged seven to 15 were killed and 15 other people injured, three of them critically. It was not clear if two had subsequently died of their wounds.

The American military said it was helping local authorities investigate the explosion, which Bennett said occurred as the children were attending an evening class.

The Mullah Khel school near Zormat, about 80 miles south of the capital, Kabul, was an Islamic school which also taught the more modern syllabus set by the Afghan Education Ministry.

It received funding from an international aid group, Wafa said, something that could conceivably have made it a target for Taliban-led militants.