28 killed in arms dump blast

2005-05-02 14:34

Kabul, Afghanistan - An arms dump exploded in northern Afghanistan on Monday, killing 28 people and injuring more than 70, officials said.

The weapons were stored in Bashgah, a village in Baghlan province 125 kilometres north of Kabul, Interior Ministry spokesperson Latfullah Mashal said. The cause of the blast was unclear.

"It's damaged the whole village, including the mosque and six houses," Mashal said.

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

Mashal said the cache had been hidden in an underground bunker close to the house of a former militia commander to shield the weapons from a UN-sponsored disarmament drive.

Baghlan police chief Gen Fazeluddin Ayar said the cache dated from "a long time ago" but had no further details. The country is awash with old weapons, many of them stored during the resistance against occupying Soviet forces during the 1980s.

- AP