By Waliur Rahman Miraj BBC correspondent in Dhaka

Bangladesh will retain some mines for training purposes

The move is part of the country's commitment made under a UN treaty to destroy 200,000 landmines.

On Tuesday, 750 landmines were demolished inside a cantonment near the capital, Dhaka, under a project funded by the Canadian government.

Bangladesh signed the UN Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa in 1997. The Maldives is the only other South Asian country to have signed it.

Officials said the programme should be completed by February.

They say that the army will retain around 15,000 mines for training purposes, including UN peace keeping assignments.

The demolition of anti-personnel mines has put Bangladesh in the forefront of efforts to eliminate the dangerous weapons.

According to the 2003 Landmine Monitor Report, the Bangladesh army had 204,227 anti-personnel landmines.

They were acquired from China, Iran, India, Pakistan, the United States and the former Yugoslavia, the report said.

It also has landmines left over from its 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

There are still landmines along Bangladesh's border with Burma.