Albania explosion kills 6, wounds 200

At least six people were killed and more than 200 hurt Saturday when powerful blasts rocked an army munitions depot near the Albanian capital Tirana, with the prime minister predicting a "considerable" toll.

The serial explosions at the site, about 12 kilometers (eight miles) north of the city, began at around midday (1100 GMT) and continued at intervals for several hours.

They blew in all the windows of the terminal building at the city's airport, just over a kilometer from the military base near the town of Vora.

"The number of dead is considerable," Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha told reporters, as the blasts continued to shake the city.

Rescuers found four bodies at the site, Berisha's spokeswoman Juela Mecani told AFP, but did not specify the nationality of the victims. A U.S. company contracted by NATO is helping Albanian troops dispose of surplus or obsolete munitions.

At least three units totaling some 60 Albanian soldiers were deployed at the time of the blasts, Mecani said earlier.

The U.S. embassy in Tirana, contacted by telephone, was unable to confirm that there were foreigners present at the depot.

In a statement released later in the day, the embassy said it "will help Albanian government" to cope with the situation, but did not indicate if the victims included Americans.

The blasts were so powerful that they were heard in neighboring Macedonia, prompting dozens of citizens to alert the police as they thought the explosions were occurring within the country, authorities in Skopje said.

In the western part of Macedonia, windows were shattered at a number of houses, police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told AFP.

According to Albanian Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu, some 100,000 tones of antiquated munitions from the communist era remain in the country, threatening the population.

Their destruction is one of the conditions Albania has to fulfill to gain membership to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.