Six Killed in Huge Afghan Explosion

Long said it appeared that people in the house at the centre of the blast were dismantling a cluster bomb, which exploded.

Four other Russian-made cluster bombs and bomb parts were discovered stacked in the house, he said. US troops later carried out controlled explosions to destroy the bombs.

Villager Mohammad Nazim said the explosion occurred when people in the house were attempting to dismantle a bomb to remove the explosives to sell.

Other villagers said many locals were involved in the lucrative but dangerous business of dismantling old munitions to sell the explosives to miners searching for precious stones in the Panjshir valley north of Kabul.

The commander of Canadian peacekeepers in Kabul said yesterday his force would not be intimidated by the Taliban or Al Qaeda and would not stop patrols despite the death of two of his men in an explosion.

Two Canadian soldiers were killed and three were wounded when the lead jeep of a patrol hit a suspected mine on the outskirts of the Afghan capital on Thursday.