Eight bombs found in China

Eight bombs presumably abandoned by Japanese troops during World War II have been found in northeastern China.

Photo: Eight bombs found in China

Patrolling police found the bombs in the courtyard of a house in the city of Suifenhe in Heilongjiang province, Xinhua News Agency said.

The first bomb was discovered on Monday, Xinhua said, adding that authorities described it as "seriously eroded without a fuse, but still dangerous."

Authorities then sealed off the courtyard and found seven more bombs. They were transferred to a safe place, the report said.

Japan controlled China's northeast  formerly known as Manchuria for a decade before its wartime defeat, and says its army left behind an estimated 700,000 chemical weapons, mostly in that region.

The weapons are an enduring source of anger for Beijing, which says they have killed at least 2,000 Chinese since 1945.

In 2003, one person was killed and 43 others were injured when construction workers broke open a buried barrel of abandoned poison gas in Qiqihar, a city in northeast Heilongjiang province. Qiqihar was a major center for Japan's military operations.