Arms depot blast kills at least 19

A series of devastating explosions at a weapons depot in southern Afghanistan early Friday morning has killed at least 19 and injured scores more, including an employee of the World Food Programme (WFP). "The explosions started after midnight and went on for a couple of hours," WFP spokesman, Khalid Mansour told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. "Two of our huge storing tents collapsed as well as four container offices," he maintained. Following the initial blast at the arms depot near the border town of Spin Boldak, some 500 km southwest of the Afghan capital, reports indicate a rocket hit the food aid warehouse where some 800 mt of food and other supplies were being stored. One local WFP employee, though not in the warehouse at the time of the explosion, was also injured in the blast. "He was slightly injured and has since been discharged from hospital," Mansour explained. But others were not so lucky. According to an AFP report on Friday, at least 19 soldiers and civilians were killed when the ammunition dump exploded, resulting in a chain of explosions throughout the area, destroying nearby homes and shops. Of the causalities, 12 were reported to be civilians, including four women and three children, as well as seven soldiers. A further 15 soldiers on duty at the depot were also reported missing. While authorities have yet to conclude the cause of the blast, Muhammad Sharif, brother of Governor Gul Agha in the Afghan city of Kandahar told Reuters the depot had been hit by a rocket, apparently fired by fugitive al-Qaeda militants. A one-mile area around the depot has since been sealed off, the report added. Once a stronghold of the now defunct Taliban, southern Afghanistan reportedly sheltered al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, wanted in connection by the United States for the 11 September suicide attacks in New York and Washington, resulting in the deaths of over 3,000 people.