Two injured in Kabul mine blast
Two French members of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan were seriously injured yesterday while clearing mines near the Kabul airport, an official said.
The two suffered head and hand injuries when a mine exploded near the airport, said Turkish Col Samet Oz, a spokesman for the peacekeepers. The two soldiers were being transported today to France.
Since the peacekeepers took control of Kabul airport in April, more than 800 unexploded mines have been cleared from the area.
The airport was heavily damaged during fighting between rival Afghan warlords in the early 1990s and during the Soviet occupation in the late 1980s.
Thousands of landmines - mostly planted by the Soviets - still cover the airfield’s perimeters.
