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Afghanistan Gas Explosions: 11 Dead, Including 10 Children, After Series Of

The incident has taken place in Dahana-e-Kamar Kalagh area of the city and back to back to explosions were heard after the gas storages caught fire.

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At least ten children and one adult were killed as a series of huge explosions at a gas terminal rocked the western Afghan city of Herat on Tuesday, reports said.

It was still not clear whether the explosions were an accident or the result of an attack in Afghanistan’s third-largest city.

According to the BBC, a spokesman for Herat Regional Hospital said that another 18 people were injured in the blasts. “At least 10 frequent explosions shocked the area, leaving at least 11 people including women and children dead”, a local police official said. All were from the camp near the gas terminal.

Herat province, a key business hub located in western Afghanistan near the border with Iran, is a relatively peaceful province in a country convulsed by an ascendant 14-year Taliban insurgency. Gas explosions are not uncommon in Afghanistan, where bottled gas is used for household cooking. In May previous year , however, gunmen launched an assault on the Indian Consulate, while the Taliban attacked the American consulate in 2013.

Taliban militants have stepped up their offensive which they launched in late April.

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North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ended its combat mission in Afghanistan in December previous year , although a 13,000-strong residual force remains for training and counterterrorism operations.

Afghan men carry the body of a victim after a series of explosions at a gas storage facility on the edge of the western city of Herat