March 6, 2002 Large anti-aircraft missiles that peacekeepers in the Afghan capital Kabul were trying to defuse exploded Wednesday afternoon, killing two German and three Danish soldiers.

In addition to the five dead, seven soldiers were injured, three of them seriously, said Gen. Harald Kujat, the top German military officer.

Kujat said the soldiers were attempting to destroy two Russian-made SA-3 ground-to-air missiles with a controlled explosion at a munitions collection point about 3 miles from the German military's base in the Afghan capital.

"Apparently, the explosion went off early," Kujat said. "The soldiers were still in the area close to the two missiles."

The origin of the missiles was unclear, and Kujat said he did not know whether one or both exploded.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed condolences to the families of the dead soldiers, calling it a tragic accident.

"It was a task that did not have anything to do with military conflict. There is no reason to question the mission," Schroeder said.

Sending German troops abroad is a sensitive topic in Germany, where antimilitary sentiment still runs deep more than half a century after World War II. Schroeder had faced strong opposition to his pledge of troops for the war on terrorism, which parliament barely approved last year.

The incident came as Germany appeared to be gearing up to take over a leadership role in the Kabul peacekeeping mission, although it has made clear it will not replace Britain when its six months leading are over.

Kujat, the inspector-general of the German armed forces, said it appeared soldiers were observing safety regulations and there was no evidence of sabotage. "This was an accident," he said.

An unnamed German officier in Kabul said "They … were setting up charges to blow up a surface-to-air missile.''

More than 700 German soldiers are part of the international security force deployed in and around the Afghan capital. About 50 Danish soldiers specialized in mine clearing were sent to Afghanistan in January.

The SA-3 has a range of 11 miles and weighs 2,100 pounds. It was designed to destroy aircraft, cruise missiles, assault helicopters and other targets at low or medium altitudes. First introduced in 1961, the missile is comparable to a MIM-23 Hawk in the U.S. arsenal.

Germany has pledged a total of 3,900 troops for the anti-terror campaign, including the naval contingent deployed off the Horn of Africa, troops in Afghanistan and about 100 in neighboring Uzbekistan. Around 1,250 German troops are taking part in the peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan, 850 of them based in Kabul.

An unspecified number of German KSK special forces are also in Afghanistan alongside U.S. and British troops in operations searching for al Qaeda forces.