Afghanistan: ordnance from ammunition dump blast largely cleared, UN reports

Workers have completed the emergency phase of a clearance operation aimed at ridding Afghanistan's Spin Boldak region of unexploded ordnance remaining after last month's ammunition dump explosion, a United Nations spokeswoman reported today.

"Teams have removed all the hazardous materials in the community areas and from the compound," spokeswoman Hua Jiang told the press in New York. "All dangerous ordnance has been neutralized and destroyed."

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today reported an increase in the number of refugees returning home to Afghanistan, with a total of 44,600 going back during the first four days of July. "This represents an average of 11,150 per day, up from the June daily average of 9,700," agency spokesman Ron Redmond said.

In all 1,167,000 Afghans have returned home with UNHCR assistance since the beginning of March. The agency predicts that up to 2 million Afghans will return home by the end of this year.