Bomb team tackles WWII grenades

A small charge set off the explosion

A bomb disposal squad has exploded a cache of World War II "Dad's Army"-style grenades found at a Bronze Age burial ground in mid Wales.

The unstable phosphorus bombs were found by a metal detector enthusiast at the site in the Brecon Beacons.

The man re-buried the devices, which were glass bottles filled with the highly-flammable chemical.

An army explosives team put the grenades in a sand-filled skip and blasted them with a small charge.

The milk bottle-sized SIP or Self-Igniting Phosphorus grenades were issued to Britain's Home Guard during the war so volunteers could throw them at invading Nazi troops and tanks.

The bottles were placed into a sand-lined skip

The white phosphorus burns fiercely on contact with the air.

Army Captain Mat Symons said: "They were issued in crates to the Home Guard during the war but were never used.

"After the war the Home Guard, not knowing what to do with them, often buried them. As a result they are still being found today.

"Because they were hardly ever used, there are a fair few left them left. They were chucking them in ponds - we have found them in all sorts of situations, including Bronze Age burial grounds."

The grenades were found at the burial mound at Broughrood, near Llyswen, Powys.

Landowner Austin Price said: "I always understood it was an old Home Guard look-out post, and I suppose it is just the place where you would find it," he said.