MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Aug 4: A massive explosion early Monday killed 13 militiamen and injured 21 others helping collect weapons in a disarmament drive in northern Afghanistan, said Mohammad Qul Zahiri, deputy police chief for the northern province of Jawzjan.

The injured were in a serious condition in hospital in the province’s capital, Sheberghan.

Zahiri said the blast was believed to be an accident rather than an attack. The cause was still being investigated.

The explosion occurred at 6:00 am, Zahiri said.

The weapons had been collected as part of a local drive to disarm militiamen in northern Afghanistan.

The truck and five escort vehicles were destroyed in the blast as the truck started up for the 40-kilometre journey to Sheberghan, where the weapons were being taken.

Deputy Defence Minister Abdul Rashid Dostum at the weekend launched a drive to disarm thousands of militiamen in Jawzjan, his home province.

Around 1,000 of his fighters were disarmed at the weekend, the Uzbek warlord said on Sunday in Aqcha, 380 kilometres northwest of Kabul.

Dostum, head of the Uzbek Junbish militia, and his rival General Atta Mohammad, chief of the Tajik Jamiat force, have been vying for control of northern Afghanistan along with a third ethnic-based militia, the Hazaras’ Hezb-i-Wahdat.—AFP