Afghan authorities in the western province of Herat say demolition experts have destroyed a huge amount of arms and ammunition left over from decades of fighting.
The authorities say more than 17,000 land mines and other unexploded ordinance collected from militia units in Herat were detonated Thursday in a controlled explosion.
Afghanistan remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Millions of explosives were laid during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and the brutal civil war, which followed.
Afghan officials say that land mines or unexploded bombs still kill or disable hundreds of Afghans every year.
Some information for this story provided by AP and AFP.
