Explosions near Kabul airport puzzle ISAF

Published September 1, 2002

KABUL, Aug 31: International peacekeepers in Afghanistan said they were investigating three explosions near Kabul airport on Saturday.

Two explosions — one large and the other small — were heard around 6.50am (8.20am PST) and another blast was reported one hour later, said a spokesman for the Turkish-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

There were no casualties and the ISAF said flights had not been disrupted by the blasts.

Akyuz said a French battle group was investigating the incidents, the latest in a series of unsolved explosions in the capital in the past two weeks.

On Monday there was a small explosion near the Inter-Continental Hotel in central Kabul, a day after a device exploded in a dustbin outside a United Nations guest house.

At least two Afghans were injured in the latter blast. Earlier this month a Kabul cinema was slightly damaged when a device went off inside the building. Nobody was hurt.—Reuters