KABUL — Canadian combat engineers have discovered a sizable arms cache right under their noses -- in the basement of a ruin just 250 metres from their base camp.

An Afghan National Army soldier matter-of-factly mentioned the cache of rockets, mortars and other ordnance in a conversation with Canadian soldiers on Wednesday.

"It's pretty big for us but, for them, it was like nothing,'' said Sgt. Martin Drolet, a combat engineer originally from Quebec City. "They just said 'take it away.' They didn't care about it.''

The engineers were checking out reports of two unexploded rockets half a kilometre away when the cache was brought to their attention. The rockets were harmless -- they had no warheads -- but the cache was another story.

"It was in the basement at the bottom of the stairs in an old building,'' said Drolet. "It was all rubble. It was all piled up and all mixed up too.

"It wasn't very safe the way that they had stored it, but it's OK for them, I guess. Most of the Afghan troops didn't even know it was there.''

Drolet said he was told it was an old Taliban cache.

The stockpile included 86 Soviet-made 73-mm rockets, eight Chinese-made 82-mm rockets, three Soviet 82-mm high-explosive mortars and three Soviet 73-mm recoilless rifle rounds, plus fuses, grenades and a variety of other rockets.

Found adjacent to an ANA compound just west of Camp Julien, almost all were in "perfect working condition,'' said Capt. Rejean Cote of 5 Combat Engineer Regiment based in Valcartier, Que.

In fact, some were even still wrapped in protective plastic from the factory.

Engineers tallied their haul on Thursday and moved it to a storage area for demolition later this week.

The rockets are similar to those that have been used against NATO's International Security Assistance Force. On Tuesday, two landed in an Afghan militia compound less than five kilometres south of Julien.

Only one exploded -- in an ammunition depot, causing a spectacular secondary blast 25 minutes later. A third rocket was later fired from the same area east-northeast of Julien, exploding near the Chinese embassy downtown.

No one was injured in either incident.

Lt.-Col. Stephane Roy, commander of the 700-member Royal 22nd Regiment Battle Group, said there is a clear link between the accessibility of weapons and attacks on friendly forces and other internationals in Kabul.

"There are thousands and thousands of UXOs (unexploded ordnance), munitions and weapons inside Kabul, outside Kabul and in the country as a whole,'' said Roy. "These can be captured by outside forces and used against ISAF.''

He said Afghanistan's Northern Alliance forces swept into Kabul rapidly during the war that ousted the Taliban almost three years ago.

"I would guess the Taliban pretty much left their weapons where they lay. They're not guarded. Some people know where they are. Others, by chance, we discover.''

There was no security on the weapons found Wednesday, said Drolet, a field engineer with the combat engineer detachment assigned to the battle group.

"Anybody could have come and helped themselves.''

The Canadians have recovered and destroyed 40 tonnes of ordnance during their six-month tour, which is drawing to a close in the next three weeks.

They have found even bigger caches in deep caves among mountains further west of the Afghan capital. Ordnance, including mines, has also been seized in raids on compounds with Kabul City Police and national security forces.

Cote, a native of Bonaventure on Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula, said he expects international peacemakers will be finding caches for years to come.

"Take it this way: They're still finding ammunition from the First World War in Europe,'' he said. "And the war was longer here (25 years compared with four years). There's stuff everywhere.''