Big Blast at Shop in Afghan Capital Killed 6

A huge blast in an ammunition shop in the heart of the Afghan capital killed at least six people and wounded 10, officials said.

Several shops were levelled and bystanders tore at the rubble with their hands to haul out survivors.

"Two of my nephews were killed. We don't know what caused it but it was a loud and terrible explosion," a weeping Haji Qutubuddin said at the scene.

"God knows better what was the cause."

An Interior Minister spokesman said at least six people were killed and 10 hurt and rescuers were still combing the site looking for more dead or injured.

"The blast occured in a shop selling gunpowder and other ammunition for hunting rifles," Ali Shah Paktiawal, Kabul police crime branch chief, said.

Residents had earlier said the blast was caused by a suicide attack on an Afghan army patrol.

In southern Kandahar province, the Taliban heartland, rebels killed at least one policeman in an attack on a patrol.

Last year, the bloodiest since the Taliban's ouster in 2001, the city was rocked by several suicide attacks that killed dozens.

The Taliban say they will step up suicide attacks across the country this year.

NATO has launched a major offensive against the Taliban in the south in what analysts say is a crunch year for both sides.

Three Taliban suicide bombers killed two people and wounded a dozen others on Tuesday in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan.

A senior Taliban commander, Mullah Jamaluddin, was killed along with several of his followers in a ground and air strike in Helmand last week, NATO said.