Afghan warlord pleads innocence after blast kills 26

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.

The embattled commander insisted the explosives were for road-building and that he was co-operating with a UN disarmament drive, and shrugged wearily at an investigation for the deaths of at least 26 people – most of them his relatives.