BELMOPAN, Belize (CMC) – Bomb explosive experts have recovered a live grenade underneath a church here amid concerns that it could have killed or caused severe injuries to children who normally use the playground on a daily basis.

Lieutant Colonel James Requena, a bomb expert with the Belize Defence Force (BDF) said that the grenade is among the 24 missing from the British Forces here in 2004.

"It's a L-109-A1 high explosive grenade fragmentation from the similar batch that was missing from the British Forces. So the count now is at eight with 16 remaining out of 24," he said, adding that many children from the neighbourhood play in the yard of the Church of God.

Media reports said that the grenade was found on Thursday inside a wall of the church that is elevated approximately four feet from the ground. The reports said the grenade was found in an area used for baptisms and the discovery has stunned the assistant pastor Sylburn Arthurs Senior, who said it could have turned deadly for the children who play in the yard on a daily basis.

“It could have killed a lot of people. This is very sad. It shows the level of disrespect to the church and to the whole community on a whole,” he added.

Police said they are hoping to recover fingerprints on the grenade.

Since 2008, at least two people have been killed and several others injured as rival gangs resort to the use of grenades in their battles.