Wellington - The New Zealand army denied Sunday damaging the
ruins of one of Afghanistan's famous Bamian Buddha statues while
detonating an unexploded rocket in the area.
Najibullah Harar, head of the information and culture department
in Bamian province, was reported as saying a controlled explosion by
New Zealand army bomb disposal experts had damaged the remains of one
of the Buddhas which were toppled by the Taliban in 2001.
The radical Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan in 1996-2001
blew up the historic statues - nearly 2,000 years old and 55-metres
and 38-metres tall - saying they defied strict islamic law.
Harar was quoted as saying the New Zealanders, who have a
provincial reconstruction team in the area, had damaged the ruins of
the smaller of the two statues.
A statement from New Zealand Defence Force headquarters in
Wellington said bomb disposal experts with the team had been asked by
the Disarmament of Illegally Armed Groups (DIAG) to safely detonate
an 85 millimetre anti-tank rocket found as part of an unexploded
ordnance cache in the vicinity of the statues in Bamian township.
It said the rocket was approximately 50 metres to the right of the
small Buddha and buried at the foot of a bank which was a further
20 metres down a slope. The statement said it was deemed too unsafe
to transport away from the location or leave without attention.
'Due to its vicinity to the historic site the detonation was
delayed so key people could be informed of the need to dispose the
rocket in situ. The governor of the province, Habiba Sorabi, United
Nations organisations and agencies and local police authorities were
advised of the task.'
The statement said the rocket was detonated following correct
operating procedures on May 1 behind a cordon provided by local
Afghani police.
'In conducting the demolition, 15 full sandbags were placed onto
the rocket to absorb blast and fragmentation.' An inspection then
revealed a crater about 400 millimeters in diameter and 150
millimetres deep.
'It was considered highly unlikely that the ordnance could have
inflicted any damage to the surrounding area,' the statement said,
adding that further site inspections, including by the head of the UN
mission in Bamian, concluded there had been no damage to the Buddha.
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