Soldiers clear 16 tonne of WWII explosives IT'S taken almost 70 years, but residents of a World War II battleground are now able to roam without fear of being blown to pieces. THE community of Torokina on the island of Bougainville has been cleared of 16,000 kilograms, or 16 tonne, of explosive material after a multi-national peace operation. The Australian Defence Force-led team combed the island for explosives left over from the Bougainville campaign after the island was occupied by Japanese soldiers in 1942. The island was fiercely fought over when Allied forces reclaimed Cape Torokina in late 1943. They set up an airbase intended as a direct route to the Philippines. After catching onto their plans, the Japanese began a costly offensive that lasted two years and resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of lives. More than 500 defence personnel from the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Solomon Islands and Australia joined forces for Operation Render Safe which cleared 109 sites of 2293 war-related objects in Torokina. Render Safe operates regularly in the South West Pacific and last year removed explosives from Solomon Islands. However, the Torokina mission is the largest so far. The Royal Australian Army, Navy and Airforce were involved in the mission and disposed of land and sea mines and other weapons. Commander of the multinational joint task force, Captain Jay Bannister, labelled the operation a resounding success.