A Louisiana town has been evacuated after officials discovered 6m lb (2.7m kg) of explosive material that they say were stored illegally.

State police found the stockpile of M6 artillery propellant stacked outdoors and without authorisation in buildings in the 800-inhabitant town of Doyline.

The discovery was made by officials during a follow-up inspection after a blast at Explo Systems in October.

Officials expect to work over the next two days to secure the explosives.

Schools in Doyline were closed on Monday and are expected to remain shut on Tuesday, local broadcaster WAFB reported.

A criminal investigation has been opened into the discovery, about 270 miles (435km) north-west of New Orleans.

So that's where bratty keeps his finds.

2 MILLION.

Hold on a sec, let me get this straight... 2.7 million kilograms of M6 propellant?

According to US military specs, that's roughly equivalent to 2mKg of TNT. Or, to put it in short terms, a 2 kiloton nuclear weapon. Which isn't a city killer (the Horishima/Nagasaki bombs were in the order of 15-20 mKg TNT) but it's give everything within say five km a very bad day.

How the clucking bell did they get hold of 2 million kilograms of explosive? 2 MILLION. How much proellant does the US Military actually need?

Jon