Weapons Blast Kills 5 Peacekeepers in Afghanistan

Five European peacekeepers were killed and seven others were wounded in a powerful explosion during an ordnance-defusing exercise in Afghanistan, the worst accident in the force’s nearly 3-month-old mission, German officials said Wednesday.

Two of the dead were German soldiers and three were from Denmark’s contingent in the 4,500-strong peacekeeping force, which is patrolling Kabul, the Afghan capital, and collecting weapons from the combatants who have contributed to the Central Asian nation’s two decades of chaos.

The blast occurred as munitions experts were preparing to blow up two Soviet-era SA-3 antiaircraft missiles at a weapons-collection point about three miles outside Kabul. Taliban fighters were known to have had such missiles in their arsenal, but officials said it was unclear where the weapons came from.

It was also unclear from initial reports received by the German Defense Ministry whether one or both of the 2,100-pound rockets exploded.

“It was an accident,” Gen. Harald Kujat, the German army’s inspector general, told journalists in Berlin. “We believe all necessary security measures were taken.”

The wounded, including three who were in critical condition, were being treated at German and French field hospitals in Kabul, Kujat said.

The deaths were the first for the German and Danish deployments and could fuel protests in both countries by opponents of participation in the U.S.-led war on terrorism and its related security missions.

Asked whether reported shortages of transportation and equipment for Afghanistan-based German troops might have played a role in the accident, Kujat said he wouldn’t speculate on the causes. But he said the demolition experts had all the necessary materials to do their work.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder offered his condolences to the families of those killed but urged Germans to maintain their commitment to doing their part in the global anti-terrorism campaign.

“[The accident] did not have anything to do with military conflict. There is no reason to question the mission,” Schroeder said.

Schroeder faces a tough reelection campaign this year, and German participation in the anti-terrorism fight has become a divisive issue in a country long constrained from taking part in foreign conflicts by its post-World War II constitution.

But Germany has taken on an increasingly active role in international security actions in the years since the country’s 1990 reunification and has thousands of troops deployed to peacekeeping missions, primarily in the Balkans.

Berlin’s decision in November to offer as many as 3,900 troops for the fight against terrorism has provided a platform for opposition politicians to accuse the government of overextending Germany’s armed forces while failing to increase defense spending.

Germany has about 700 soldiers in Afghanistan. Denmark’s contingent numbers about 50, most of them de-mining specialists.

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Special correspondent Falkenberg reported from Berlin and Williams from Moscow.