At least 11 people including several children were killed in a series of explosions at a gas storage facility on the edge of the western Afghan city of Herat, officials said Tuesday.
The explosions triggered an inferno which spread to a nearby camp for internally displaced people where most of the deaths occurred. It was not immediately clear whether the blasts were an accident or caused by a militant attack.
“Around midnight (Monday) a gas tanker exploded which triggered blasts in a gas storage plant, killing 11 people and injuring 10 others,” Herat police spokesman Abdul Rauf Ahmadi told a foreign news agency.
Ihasanullah Hayat, spokesman for the governor of Herat, confirmed the toll and said several children were among those dead.
Domestic gas cylinder explosions are an almost daily occurrence around the country, where safety standards are poor and fatal accidents not uncommon.