Aid office blast in Afghanistan

There has been a series of attacks on foreigner workers in Afghanistan

A bomb has exploded at the office of a British aid agency in Afghanistan.

The explosion blew out windows and the front gates of the building belonging to London-based Afghanaid in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

An Afghan night watchman at the building in the northern city of Faizabad was injured in the blast and is receiving hospital treatment.

Local power struggles have been blamed for the attack in a relatively peaceful part of the country.

Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan province, is about 310km (190 miles) north-east of the capital, Kabul.

Fatal attacks

The explosion comes on the same day four Afghan civilians were killed in an explosion in nearby Kunduz.

The four were blown up by a roadside bomb apparently aimed at an international peacekeeping force.

These attacks follow a series of incidents involving foreign workers and aid agencies in northern Afghanistan.

Three Europeans working for Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) were killed on 2 June in an attack believed to have been carried out by the Taleban.

MSF has since stopped working in the country.

And 11 Chinese railway workers were attacked and killed as they slept on 9 June.

But links between these attacks and the Afghanaid explosion have been played down.

The British Agencies Afghanistan Group (BAAG) which provides information to foreign groups in the country said a targeted Taleban attack was unlikely.

"We need to be cautious because this wouldn't necessarily be linked to the terrorist attacks elsewhere," Peter Marsden, spokesman for BAAG told BBC News Online.

"The other attacks can be linked to the existing Taleban presence but the Taleban do not have a presence in that area.

"Of course a targeted attack cannot be ruled out, but it is more likely to be a consequence of local power struggles," he added.

A spokeswoman for Afghanaid confirmed that the explosion occurred at 0330 (2300GMT Tuesday).