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An explosion that may have been caused by a bomb dropped from a B-52 killed a U.S. Marine and wounded eight U.S. service members during a Sunday training exercise in this Horn of Africa nation, U.S. Central Command said.

The B-52 Stratofortress that may have been involved in the accident landed near forces at Godoria Bombing Range, along the northern coast of Djibouti, a Central Command statement said.

The names of the victim and injured were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

Two service members were treated for minor injuries and returned to their units. The other six injured were transported to Bouffard Hospital in Djibouti, where they were in stable condition, said Capt. Will Klumpp, a spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

Two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters supporting the exercise and parked near the range also were damaged in the accident, which was under investigation. Klumpp declined to give any more details while the investigation was ongoing.

Forces supporting Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa were participating in a routine two-day training exercise, the statement said. The exercise was halted after the accident.

Klumpp said he did not know exactly how many service members were participating in the exercise, the fourth of its kind since the task force began its anti-terror work in Africa. Previous exercises involved dozens of troops, he said.

Since the Taliban was driven from power in Afghanistan by a U.S.-led coalition in late 2001, the U.S. military has paid more attention to finding remnants of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist organization in the Horn of Africa region. The task force has played a major role in that effort.

The Horn of Africa and neighboring Yemen, Kenya and Sudan have been cited as security concerns by the United States.

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