500-kg Soviet-era bomb defused in Afghanistan

KARACHI, Pakistan

A Soviet-era bomb weighing 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) was found and defused in eastern Afghanistan, state media reported on Sunday.

The bomb, believed to have been left behind by the forces of the USSR during their 1980s invasion of Afghanistan, was “discovered and neutralized” in the Shib Koh district of the eastern Farah province, the state-run Bakhtar news agency reported.

This was the second bomb discovered in the Farah province in a year. In June 2022, a 500-kg bomb was discovered and subsequently neutralized in the suburbs of the province.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 800,000 to 1 million people in Afghanistan have been disabled by landmines and explosive materials left behind by the Soviet forces.

The Soviet army withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 after a decade-long bloody war.