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Six dead and over 20 injured in accidental explosions in Kabul

Three accidental explosions in the Afghan capital of Kabul have left six people dead and more than 20 wounded, including some counternarcotics police, officials said on Monday.

  • AP
  • Published: 15:27 May 5, 2008
  • Gulf News

Kabul: Three accidental explosions in the Afghan capital of Kabul have left six people dead and more than 20 wounded, including some counternarcotics police, officials said on Monday.

A policeman dropped a rocket-propelled grenade that exploded as his unit set off from Kabul on Monday on an opium poppy eradication mission north of the city, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary.

One policeman was killed and at least eight were wounded, said Dr. Ahmad Zia Aftali, chief of the hospital where the injured were taken for treatment.

However, a policeman who witnessed the blast said in total more than 15 were hurt.

Also on Monday, three children died and two others were wounded when an old artillery shell they were playing with exploded, Bashary said.

Another police official, Sayed Ekramudin, said two civilians were killed and 13 others wounded in an explosion Sunday at a refuse dump in the city's northern outskirts.

Ekramudin said a truck had hit a buried explosive.

Separately, insurgents shot at and hit a military-contracted civilian helicopter Monday in eastern Afghanistan, forcing the aircraft to land in Kunar province, a statement from the US-led coalition said. No one was injured inside the helicopter.

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