Fuel tanker blast in tunnel kills Soviets and Afghans

More than 1,000 Soviet soldiers and Afghan civilians were killed when a fuel tanker caught fire after a collision in a mountain road tunnel north of Kabul, Western diplomats said.

They said 13 buses and trucks were also involved in the pileup in the Salang Tunnel last week. There was no official confirmation, but they quoted reports from Kabul as saying 700 Soviet soldiers and 400 Afghans were killed, most by asphyxiation.