Xinhua, August 21, 2006

Afghanistan -- A joint archeologist team of Afghan and France has discovered a huge Buddhist Stupa and 22 other artifacts including a statue of Buddha near the destroyed giant Buddhas in Afghanistan's central Bamyan province, a local newspaper reported Monday.

"The newly discovered Stupa with a length of 20 meters and 5 meters width dated back between fifth and seventh centuries," daily Outlook writes in its Monday edition.

The dome-shaped structure was erected by Buddhists to perform their rituals, it added. A number of historical objects including a half-meter statue of Buddha were also found from the area which is close to the two destroyed giant Buddhas.

Taliban regime dynamited both the 55-meter long and 35-meter giant Buddha in March 2001.

However, Ahad Abasi, director of artifacts department at the Ministry for Information and Culture, told Xinhua that the excavation is going in the area to find more ancient objects belong to Buddhism.

Abasi, who was on way to Bamyan said that the renowned Afghan archeologist Zamaryal Tarzai has been supervising the digging of historical sites in Bamyan.