By Taziz Ahsairi and Tom Westcott.
Tripoli, 3 December 2013:
Tons of unexploded ordinance dating back to the revolution, including from NATO bombings, . . .[restrict]were destroyed this afternoon in a controlled explosion.
The explosive remnants of war included munitions that failed to detonate on impact during the 2011 NATO bombing. Two 500kg bombs recently found south of Tarhuna were amongst the unexploded ordinance destroyed today.
“We found a lot of stuff, including mines, rockets and bombs, but since the liberation, we have not disposed of any of it,” Libyan Navy spokesman Ayoub Ghasem told the Libya Herald. When the revolution ended, he said, the Navy set up a special committee to deal with collecting these explosive remnants of war.
“It included a lot of munitions, including those from NATO, and we have been gathering and storing these in a safe place,” Ghasem said.
The unexploded ordinance was detonated in a controlled explosion in a “remote place,” Ghasem said, adding that residents near the undisclosed location had been pre-warned about the disposal operation, to prevent any unnecessary alarm being caused.
Ghasem said the committee would be giving details of munitions destroyed at a later date. [/restrict]
