Kabul One woman and two children were according to AFP, severely injured as hundreds of starving residents of the Afghan capital attacked the office of an Arab relief agency, residents and witnesses said.

The injuries happened in a rush of at least 1,000 impoverished women trying to receive chits for a few kilograms (pounds) of mutton distributed by the London-based Sanabel Relief Agency for the upcoming Eid-al-Adha Festival.

Witnesses said a two-month-old baby and a four-year-old boy were injured when the group swamped agency workers in the Wazir Akbar area of the capital.

Hospital sources said a woman was admitted after she was trampled in a stampede. Ruling Taleban soldiers beat men who were trying to climb over the building's walls, they said.

Angry men started hurling stones at the building after the relief workers segregated local women into the yard of an opposite house.

"We might be poor, but we are not pimps. We don't want this shameful charity," shouted one man as the mob hurled stones at the agency's rented building.

In an instant all the building's windows were smashed, forcing Taleban soldiers to fire shots in the air to disperse the crowd.

"We'd better die before taking this food," said an amputee, pointing to Taleban soldiers severely beating men and women equally.

Afghanistan, a country at war for more than 21 years, is suffering from its worst ever drought which has affected half of the 22 million population.

In Kabul, one quarter of the population survive on relief handouts, while living conditions are no better in the countryside where more than 500,000 people have been displaced by drought and civil war.

The United Nations estimates one million Afghans are facing famine this year unless massive international assistance is forthcoming.