British marines have blown up four caves in eastern Afghanistan stacked with munitions they say were left behind by al-Qaeda or Taliban fighters.
The blast sent a mushroom cloud 1,000-foot high into the blue Afghan sky and filled a mountain valley with acrid brown smoke.
Munitions continued to explode for hours beneath 120-foot deep craters, which was all that was left of the hill where the munitions were found.
The caves, some sealed with padlocked metal doors and others with mesh, were spotted in mountains where a 1,000-strong force led by troops from the Marines' 45 Commando. They have been hunting in vain for elusive remnants of the Taliban movement and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
The Taliban have not been seen in large numbers since March, when US-led troops took on several hundred in the last big battle of the Afghan campaign.
Many fighters may have fled across the porous border into Pakistan's tribal agencies.
The haul found in the rugged mountains of Paktika province exceeded 20 truckloads, stacked to the ceiling of the caves.
It included artillery and mortar rounds, recoilless rockets, rocket-propelled grenades, multi-barrel rockets and ammunition.