WWII ammunition found near school

The Royal Solomon Islands Police said more than 200 rusted projectiles belonging to the US military were found near a school employee’s home and have been dug up and removed.

Police said in a statement that the “abduction occurred after the school discovered a stockpile of U.S. projectiles in front of a faculty member’s home” while the school was “digging” a hole to drain “waste water.”

Inspector Clifford Tunuki said the stockpile of weapons found had been taken to a secure location for “safe destruction”.

Photos showed police removing the badly corroded ammunition by hand after using a shovel to dig it out.

Japan and the United States fought fiercely for control of the Solomon Islands at the height of World War II, leaving behind countless unexploded ordnance across the South Pacific archipelago that continues to claim lives today.

In 2020, two foreign deminers were killed in the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara, while mapping the country’s old weapons caches.