Explosion rocks Camp Bastion days after three soldiers were killed in armoured truck by Taliban bomb

An explosion has rocked Camp Bastion just days after three soldiers were killed in armoured truck by Taliban bomb.
The blast occurred last night at an ammunition depot within the base and five people later went to hospital to receive treatment.
Flight stopped amid fears the Afghanistan base was under attack, although they have since resumed - the explosion is not thought to be a terror attack.

Explosion: British military vehicles sit in a compound in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. An explosion occurred within the grounds at an ammunition depot last night

The heavily fortified Camp Bastion was damaged in February after insurgents launched a rocket attack on the main coalition military base in Afghanistan's Helmand province.

Last September, two US Marines were killed and six Harrier jets destroyed when militants breached the perimeter fence and attacked Camp Leatherneck, the US headquarters next to Camp Bastion.
The incident comes just days after the Taliban launched its ‘spring offensive’ against coalition forces.
The Taliban said they would infiltrate ‘enemy ranks’ to conduct ‘insider attacks’ and target military and diplomatic sites with suicide bombers.
Meanwhile British special forces in Afghanistan have uncovered a cache of homemade bombs primed for use in a raid just five miles from the Mastiff blast which killed three soldiers.
Members of the elite unit - codenamed Task Force 42 - helped seize 27 pressure-plate improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at a secretive Taliban weapons factory.

Killed: Corporal William Thomas Savage, left, and Fusiler Samuel Flint, both served in the Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment Of Scotland (2 Scots) and died this week after a Taliban blast hit their armoured vehicle

They also discovered rounds for AK-47 semi-automatic rifles and other military equipment stockpiled by insurgents near the village of Mohamadzai, Helmand.
The mission, led by the Afghan National Army Special Forces, took place just hours after Corporal William Savage, 30, Fusilier Sam Flint, 21, and Private Robert Hetherington, 25, died and six others were injured when their armoured vehicle was blown up by a massive roadside bomb.
The IED, assessed to be easily in excess of 400lbs, was one of the biggest ever detonated during the war.

Targeted: Three British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan when their Mastiff armoured vehicle which was introduced to protect troops was devastated by a huge roadside bomb (file picture)

Killed: The soldiers (not pictured) were flown to the military hospital at Camp Bastion but could not be saved

The blast, during a patrol along Route 611 in Nahr-e Seraj district, was so powerful it hurled the 23-ton personnel carrier into the air and rolled it onto its roof.
The victims, deployed with the Royal Highland Fusiliers, the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, were the first to be killed in a Mastiff, which offers world-beating protection from explosions.
Crucially, the blast did not penetrate the £1million vehicle's armour.
Major Tim Petransky, a spokesman for The Royal Highland Fusiliers, said: 'The loss of three of our brothers in arms in any circumstances would be tragic but to lose three in one go is a hammer blow.'
The Army is now urgently investigating whether the seized cache could be linked to Tuesday's attack.
The discovery, along with two similar-sized finds in the warzone, came as the Taliban launched a so-called 'Spring Offensive' against Coalition troops.
Military scientists are examining the remains of the Mastiff to discover if any additional protection can feasibly be added.

Scene: The soldiers were on a routine patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province

In due course it will be flown back to the UK where extensive tests will be carried out to determine any vulnerabilities.
Early indications suggest the roadside bomb was covertly dug under Route 611, a layer of Tarmac which is a key road through central Helmand, and triggered by remote control.
Meanwhile, experts from the Counter-IED Task Force and the Royal Military Police are examining debris for any 'forensic fingerprint' that might give commanders a clue to identify those behind the bomb.
Investigators are concerned that a new form of threat, such as a sophisticated remote-controlled command wire, may have been used. This may point to the involvement of Iranians having an input in the attack.
Iran is known to have developed a new 'bomb initiator' which was allegedly used by Hezbollah in bus attacks against Israeli civilians last year.
A UK bomb disposal operator who recently returned from Helmand said: 'We need to establish quickly how they set this one off. It looks like a deep bundle of explosives in the road and I suspect they had help from an outside agency, Iran, in pulling this off.'
The bomb expert pointed out that the UK task force, 1 Mechanized Brigade, had only recently started its six-month deployment in Helmand.
He said: 'The insurgents would have known this and taken advantage and there is the possibility that the route was not as well patrolled as it had been.
'But the detonation device is the critical factor, we need to identify it and intercept any future use.'

DAILYMAIL