AFGHANISTAN - Feb. 22 - Taleban Blames Foes For Airport Blast.

The ruling Taleban movement accuses opposition forces of causing an explosion at Kabul airport that destroyed a jet fighter plane. Faiz Ahmad Faiz, a Taleban Foreign Ministry spokesman, tells reporters: "In order to disrupt security...the opposition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan resorted to another act of sabotage by carrying out the blast at the airport". The explosion on Feb. 21 evening inside the combined military-civil airport destroyed a dilapidated Russian-made SU-22 jet fighter parked there. Faiz says there were no casualties. Nearby residents say they initially thought the blast had occurred in an ammunition depot. Faiz says security forces had begun an investigation into the blast, the 3rd in Kabul in less than a week, but did not give any details. An opposition spokesman denies that opposition forces were responsible and says it could be the work of "disgruntled Taleban elements". Faiz says explosive devices of an unknown type were planted and set off close to the airport's runway. But he did not say how the explosives were carried inside the airport. Faiz says: "This act by the opposition was carried out under persuasion from foreign enemies of Islam and the country". (The Taleban use the airport for bombing forces and is led by opposition commander Ahmad Shah Masood. Taleban authorities had beefed up security at the airport after gunmen hijacked a Boeing 727 of the state-owned Ariana Airlines to London early February.)