Soviet-era 500-kg bomb found in private garden in Afghanistan

A resident in Sir village found a suspicious object in his garden that police identified as a 500-kilogram Soviet-era bomb. The bomb was moved to a mountainous area and safely detonated, underscoring the continuing threat from Afghanistan's war remnants.

In Short

• Resident spotted suspicious object in Sir village
• Bomb safely moved and detonated in mountains
• Over 45,000 Afghans hurt by war explosives since 1989

An unexploded Soviet-era bomb weighing 500 kilograms (around 1,100 pounds) was discovered in a private garden in eastern Afghanistan, police said Thursday.

More than 45,000 Afghans have been killed or injured by explosive remnants of war and mines since Soviet troops withdrew in 1989, according to the United Nations Mine Action Service.

On Wednesday, a resident found "a suspicious object in the garden area inside the yard of his house," said Khalid Sarhadi, police spokesperson in Ghazni province. The security forces and a demining team from the Danish Refugee Council went to the home in Sir village, Sarhadi told AFP.

"A 500-kilogram bomb from the Soviet era was discovered, transferred to a mountainous area, and detonated safely," the police spokesperson added.

Soviet troops pulled out from Afghanistan after a nearly decade-long occupation, but successive wars followed. Despite unexploded ordnance remaining across the country, the number of teams deployed to tackle the problem has been slashed by 64 percent over the past two years, Nick Pond, head of the Mine Action Section of the UN mission in Afghanistan, told AFP in June.

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