Three dead in explosion near US military HQ

(19 Sep 2003) 1. Various of burnt house 2. Various of bomb shells 3. American soldier carrying a body of dead baby from the house 4.US soldier with local people 5. Soldiers and people carrying bodies in stretchers 6. Man with serious wounds laying in the ground 7. U.S. Major David Long talking with locals 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Major David Long, US Army: "It just appears to be some sort of explosion and the commanders and the people, the soldiers here are saying the showcases they see down there are B-40 rockets. They say that there's maybe 15 people still trapped in there, either injured or dead, or wounded, they don't know. We got fire fighter equipment and bomb disposal keep coming. I'm going there to take a look as we can't go in there as long as there is still live ordnance." 9. Various of US soldiers and aid workers carrying aid equipment 10. Various of fire fighters with hoses tacking fire 11. Burnt house 12. Various of bomb shell 13. Pull out explosive devices 14. Bullet shell 15. Tilt up from bullet to American soldier and local people 15. Various of American soldiers in Bagram city STORYLINE: An explosion caused by locals handling unexploded ordnance killed three people and injured five on Friday at a house near the US military headquarters at Bagram air base, officials and local residents said. US and Afghan troops rushed to the scene of the blast, which occurred at around noon when the father of the family living in the house, tried to open a rocket he had obtained, officials said. US Major David Long said two bodies had been recovered and a third may have been buried under the rubble of the house. He said five injured people were taken to the hospital at the US base. Long said the man had apparently been trying to dismantle a 122mm rocket to recover scrap aluminum. But Mohammed Araf, a local Afghan commander, said the man, Shah Mohammed, was trying to extract explosives for use in a construction project. Explosives are often used to clear rocky areas or to break down large rocks into smaller ones used for building. Araf said Mohammed's wife and two children were killed. Mohammed was injured, as were three other members of his family, he said. The two-story mud-brick house was largely destroyed in the blast. The roof and one of the walls were both blown away, and smoke rose from the gutted wreckage. The grounds was strewn with rubble and pieces of torn clothes. US and Afghan troops sealed off the site and closed the road to the Bagram base, the US military's main centre of operations in Afghanistan, about a kilometre (half a mile) away. US soldiers could be seen removing what looked like ammunition and artillery shells from the house and loading them onto a truck. There was no indication the blast had anything to do with operations at the base. Afghanistan is awash in rockets, shells and ammunition left over from more than two decades of war. Accidents, mostly involving scavengers looking to use the metal for scrap and farmers who step on mines, are extremely common. The country is considered to be the most heavily mined in the world. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...