Bomb scare at the market a chilling reminder nowhere's safe for troops

FOR a brief moment, it felt like a traditional Afghan bazaar. Hawkers flogged intricately woven carpets and brightly coloured pashminas, while men in long cloaks, scarves wrapped tightly round their necks, tried to interest prospective buyers in fearsome looking scorpions trapped under glass.

But it was the attraction of the inevitable DVD stalls, selling out-of-date Hollywood blockbusters and box sets of the TV series Lost that brought in most of the shoppers, guns slung casually round their uniformed shoulders as they pursued the goods on offer.

This is the weekly "jingly" market, a regular at Camp Bastion, where Afghans, many of them desert nomads, are allowed into the base to hawk their wares to the 3,000-odd troops based here. For many of the soldiers it is a chance to buy up a few home comforts, or a gift for a loved one at home.

But yesterday, for the first time since it became a regular feature at Camp Bastion several years back, the jingly market became an "incident". At about 5pm, a camp tannoy crackled into life telling all personnel to keep away from the area. The incident was believed to have been sparked by a "suspicious vehicle" at the market. Soldiers stuck their heads out of their tents, unused to hearing such warnings.

Late last night, the exact nature of the incident emerged. It was a false alarm, after a vehicle had been left abandoned at the market.

The impact was still felt across the camp.

In Bastion One – the original camp – the canteen was closed, so that dinner at the canteen in the newly built Bastion Two was something of a scrum, as US Marines jostled with Brits and Danes for their evening meal.

All the market hawkers at Bastion go through strict security measures before being allowed through the gates. They are not, however, the only Afghan civilians on the base. There are about 1,600 Afghans employed at Camp Bastion at any time, doing jobs from cleaning to repairing fences.

Although yesterday's incident was a false alarm, it brings home to many of the soldiers here the realisation that even inside Camp Bastion – the largest British-built army base since the end of the Second World War – safety is not entirely assured.

Meanwhile, beyond the reinforced perimeter fences, the battle went on. Yesterday morning five Afghan National Security Forces casualties were brought in to the base.

In the afternoon, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team, – which includes a number of Scots such as 20-year-old Sapper Stewart Little, from Gretna Green, and Staff Seargent Stewart Dickson, 37, from Dunfermline – received a "shout" alerting them to an incident off-base involving another Improvised Explosive Device (IED). They raced off in their vehicle, and just four minutes later a Chinook soared overhead, carrying the team to the scene.

A Land Rover had struck an IED. There were three British casualties, all brought back to the base and classed as "walking wounded".

Warrant Officer Moxy James said grimly that the Taleban were "constantly changing their tactics, using everything they can get their hands on". He displayed a selection of IEDs recently found, some made out of plastic water bottles.

It was, as the air started to cool and a dusty evening breeze blew through the air, just another day in the life of Camp Bastion.

IN NUMBERS

45
international troops – including at least 13 Britons and 27 Americans – died in Afghanistan in June, the deadliest month since the 2001 invasion and, for the second month running, more than died in Iraq.

31
international soldiers died in Iraq in June: 29 American troops and one each from the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Azerbaijan.

144,000
US troops currently operate in Iraq and 4,000 British in addition to small contingents from several other nations.

40
nations currently contribute to the Afghan coalition, where British forces now top 8,000 and American 30,000.

580
were killed in June in insurgent violence, including about 440 militants, 34 civilians and 44 Afghan security forces.

2,100
people have died in violence this year, according to a count based on figures from Afghan, US and Nato officials.