3 Nov 2014

Over 1,200 WWII bombs are removed from Bougainville town

7:29 pm on 3 November 2014

The vice president of the autonomous Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville says an Australian-led military operation has so far removed over 1,200 bombs left over from the Second World War in Torokina.

Operation Render Safe began last week, and Patrick Nisira says of 90 sites identified around the former allied forces base, 50 have been cleared of bombs, some weighing nearly a tonne.

Mr Nisira says the presence of the bombs has injured many people around Torokina over the past 70 years, and much of the surrounding land has been unusable.

"For the past seventy years the people of Torokina have been somewhat missing in their own land. When people have been gardening, when people went out for hunting and even when people went out for fishing they often times fell victim to those when they actually stepped on those bombs."

Patrick Nisira.

Operation Render Safe ends on Friday.