300 Live Mines Found; Egypt Clears Area
Authorities have ordered the evacuation of an area near the Mediterranean coastal town of Matruh where 300 live mines left over from World War II were discovered, the official Middle East News Agency reported.
Police decided to clear the area and detonate the mines after investigators determined they were too rusty to be moved, the agency said.
The mines were found near a school and had apparently been stored there during the war, the agency said without giving further details.
Matruh, 300 miles northwest of Cairo, was at the heart of fighting between Allied and Axis forces that swept across North Africa in 1942 and 1943.
For a time it was the headquarters of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
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