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U.S. casualty from an explosion near Kandahar arrives at medical facility in Afghanistan
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WASHINGTON,
April 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - At least four U.S. soldiers
were killed and undetermined others were injured or missing in
Afghanistan Monday when a rocket detonated as they attempted to dispose
of it, Pentagon officials said.
"It
appears that at least four were killed. The number may rise," said
a Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The
number of dead was expected to climb above four, another official said,
because a number were unaccounted for, reports news agencies.
The
incident occurred around 0720 GMT as an explosives and ordnance disposal
team were disposing unexploded ordnance near Kandahar, Marine Lieutenant
Colonel Dave Lapan said.
"It
appears a 107 mm rocket detonated," he said. "It doesn't
appear to be hostile fire …It is related to ordnance."
U.S.,
coalition and Afghan government forces have secured the site of the
blast for investigation, reports CNN.
Pentagon
officials said an undetermined number injured or missing, and an effort
was underway to establish whether the missing were killed in the
explosion or were at another location at the time.
Major
Brad Lowell, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida,
said soldiers injured in the explosion were evacuated to a medical
facility in Kandahar.
A
team of about 10 Americans was handling old Russian artillery rounds,
and was "in the process of removing 107mm rockets, a Soviet-era
type munitions" when the explosion occurred, he said.
"It
was an accident," said Major Ralph Mills, another spokesman at U.S.
Central Command in Tampa, Fla.
"It
was a disposal unit that was actively working to destroy some weapons
that had been found. For whatever reason, it went off," Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing.
According
to CNN, the soldiers had seized the 107mm rockets from enemy sites and
were storing them in a remote area north of Kandahar, until they could
destroy them under controlled conditions.
"Afghanistan
is heavily mined," Lowell explained. "There is a lot of
ordnance in the area [and] part of the job there for the soldiers is to
make it safe for the citizens of Afghanistan."
The
old ordnance can be extremely unstable and difficult to move without
detonating, reports news agencies.
The
names of the casualties were being withheld until the military can
notify the next of kin.
Khalid
Pashtoon, a spokesman for Kandahar provincial governor Gul Agha, said,
"The Americans had been exploding some old mines and unexploded
ordnance for some time. This morning there was an accident. Four of them
including a woman soldier were killed. One other man was injured."
He
said the bodies were expected to be flown home within the next few
hours.
Over
the weekend, there were firefights between U.S. forces and rival forces.
On Saturday and Sunday, there was fire directed at Khowst in eastern
Afghanistan from forces assumed to be al-Qaeda and Taliban elements.
In
another incident, U.S. forces came under fire at a checkpoint in
Afghanistan. The U.S. military refused to say where the attack took
place, reports CNN.
