A vehicle drove onto the runway of the main British base in Afghanistan then burst into flames at around the same time the US defence secretary arrived there today.
Leon Panetta arrived to meet troops, commanders and Afghan government officials just days after a US soldier went on a deadly shooting spree, killing 16 Afghan civilians.
Around the same time, a vehicle got onto the runway at the base and caught fire, sources said. The driver, a local male civilian employed at the base, is being treated at Camp Bastion's hospital for his injuries, a spokeswoman at the base said.
A British serviceman suffered minor injures in an earlier incident which may be linked to the same vehicle.
"Procedures were put in place to account for the whereabouts of all military and civilian personnel and, to achieve this, movement within Camp Bastion was restricted," the spokeswoman added.
Flights and movements in and out were restricted throughout the afternoon while the incident was investigated and were lifted later on. Police patrolled roads inside the base today in the wake of the incident.. Mr Panetta's aircraft is not said to have been at any risk from the incident.
Mr Panetta's two-day trip had been scheduled before Sunday's shootings, but it takes on new meaning as political pressure mounts on Afghan and US officials over the unpopular war, now dragging into its eleventh year.
He was scheduled to hold talks with Afghan leaders including president Hamid Karzai, as well as provincial officials in southern Helmand province during the visit. He was also due to speak with American troops in Afghanistan, who could become the targets of any backlash over the killings of villagers, including nine children, by a rogue American soldier. The Afghan Taliban has threatened to retaliate by beheading American troops.
Mr Panetta's arrival at Bastion Airfield in southern Helmand province came just a day after the first protests over Sunday's massacre flared in the eastern city of Jalalabad.
Some 2,000 demonstrators chanted "Death to America" and demanded Mr Karzai reject a planned strategic pact that would allow US advisers and possibly special forces to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014.
Mr Panetta, the most senior US official to visit Afghanistan since the shootings, told reporters at the start of his trip that he believed the US strategy was working and would withstand fallout from the massacre.
"I think we're on the right path now And what we've got to do is convince people that despite these kinds of events we ought not to allow these events to undermine that strategy," he said.
Agencies