Ammunition Dump Blast Blamed on Rocket Attack;
Death Toll Reaches 19

June 28, 2002

SPINBOLDAK, Afghanistan  — A local Afghan commander said Friday that a series of massive explosions at an ammunition dump in the border town of Spinboldak were sparked by a rocket attack and it was not known who fired the weapon.


The commander, Fazaludin Agha, also reported the death toll in the blasts, which sent rockets and other munitions spraying through the town, had risen to 19.

Several dozen people were injured and about 20 buildings wrecked in the explosions that began late Thursday and continued into Friday in Spinboldak, about 300 miles southwest of the Afghan capital of Kabul, authorities said.

The commander said the victims included women, children and Afghan soldiers. At least seven soldiers who had been guarding the munitions cache were still missing.

No American troops were believed to be in the area at the time of the explosions.

Rocket propelled grenades, anti-aircraft rounds and small arms ammunition lay strewn over a wide area of the town. Guards with Kalashnikov automatic rifles guarded the site.

The most seriously wounded were taken to hospitals in Chaman, about three miles away on the Pakistan side of the border, and to the Afghan city of Kandahar.

Residents said blasts continued almost until morning as fires continued to detonate live ammunition.

"There were a series of deafening explosions which started shaking our houses," said Ahmed Ali Achkazai, a Chaman resident who said he was awakened by the first blast. He said he ran outside and saw balls of fire rising into the air over Spinboldak.

Spinboldak residents said munitions rained down all over town.

"A mortar fell on my house," said Abdul Ghaffar, a teen-aged soldier who stood guard outside the compound Friday. "It killed my mother and my brother."

Children and other people had earlier entered the compound looking for scrap metal that they could sell.

The explosions blasted a local government customs house where food aid was stored. A nearby mosque was also extensively damaged, its roof caved in and one wall collapsed.

Also damaged was an office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, located about 70 meters (yards) from the arms depot, spokeswoman Jennifer Clark said in Geneva. One UNHCR driver was injured and was taken to hospital in Kandahar, she said.

Two U.N.'s World Food Program tents used for storage collapsed due to ground vibrations, a spokesman said.

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