At least 16 Afghans and a foreigner were killed in a fire at a Kabul factory producing gas canisters and 150 were injured, police said Thursday, according to dpa. The fire raged for more than 12 hours and more than 30 cylinders exploded, making rescue and firefighting operations difficult, said Ayoub Salangi, the chief of the Kabul police. The fire broke out Wednesday at a private gas company and spread to several other businesses along the Kabul-Jalalabad Highway in the eastern part of the city. The nationality of the foreigner who was killed had not been confirmed, Salangi said. The fire was brought under control early Thursday. "Our firefighting department team is right now investigating to find out how much damage the fire has caused and what was the reason that led to the fire, which lead to the explosions," he said. Firefighters from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force "responded to the scene to provide assistance to Kabul firefighters as they worked for several hours to combat the blaze and treat the injured," the force said in a statement. On Tuesday in a similar gas cylinder explosion in another part of the city, two Afghans died, and more than a dozen were injured. -- SPA
