Police in Qiqihar City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, have destroyed a batch of weapons left by Japanese occupation troops during World War II, local authorities said Thursday.

More than 2,000 bombs and shells, 140,000 bullets and other explosives were put into seven pits and blasted with explosives Tuesday, said a spokesman with the municipal public security bureau.

Two Qiqihar-based Japanese chemical units left a large amount of weapons in the city as they retreated during World War II. Many of them were hidden or buried, posing a threat to the public.

In August 2003, migrant worker Li Guizhen died and 42 other men working at a construction site became ill after they disturbed a mustard gas canister.