A garden leaf-blower, similar to the one developed by Kent engineers

by Nisha Chopra

Garden leaf-blowers developed by Kent engineers are being used to uncover deadly Taliban roadside bombs.

The common gardening tool, attached to a remote-controlled wheelbarrow, is saving Army lives thanks to experts at research site Fort Halstead.

It is allowing bomb-disposal experts in Afghanistan to clear sand and soil with a powerful blow of air - rather than dig by hand.

The breakthrough comes from Sevenoaks-based Fort Halstead, a research site of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory - an executive agency of the the Ministry of Defence.

They used off-the-shelf leaf blowers and attached them to a robotic wheelbarrow arm.

British troops in Helmand province are already using the hybrid device and it is said to have significantly reduced the time is takes to make an improvised explosive device safe.

More than a hundred British soldiers have been killed by deadly explosives, which have been booby trapped by the Taliban, in Helmand province.

Previous means saw soldiers using paint brushes to uncover suspected improvised explosive devices, with several resulting in fatalities.