Taliban soldiers have demolished the head and legs of the world-famous ancient statues of Buddha in central Afghanistan.
The demolition of the statues comes despite international pleas to protect the priceless historical treasures.
The two Buddhas, 175 and 120ft tall, are hewn from the side of a mountain in Bamiyan - 78 miles north-west of the Afghan capital Kabul.
"The head and legs of Buddha statues in Bamiyan were destroyed yesterday," said the Taliban's Information Minister Mr Quadratullah Jamal. "Our soldiers are working hard to demolish their remaining parts. They will come down soon".
The 175ft statue is thought to be the world's tallest of a Buddha standing rather than sitting.
The Taliban troops used heavy explosives to destroy the statues carved in the third and fifth centuries, relics of Afghanistan's pre-Islamic past. Both the statues had been damaged by artillery fire during Afghanistan's protracted civil war.
Mr Jamal said the destruction was being carried out in keeping with instructions from the Taliban's reclusive supreme leader Mr Mullah Mohammed Omar, who ordered all statues in Afghanistan including the Buddha statues be destroyed because they offended Islam.
The order generated international outrage. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York had offered to take the statues and preserve them. The Taliban have not responded to the offer.
Acceptance could save the thousands of smaller statues in the Kabul Museum, but will not preserve the giant Buddha carved into the mountainside.
The Taliban Islamic militia, which rules 95 per cent of Afghanistan including Kabul, adheres to a strict brand of Islamic law. They have been unmoved by international appeals to save the statues as historical artifacts.
PA