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Police defuse WW2 bomb in Berlin's Kreuzberg

The Local Germany
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Police defuse WW2 bomb in Berlin's Kreuzberg
Digging up a Second World War bomb in Kreuzberg, Berlin, on Sunday. Photo: DPA

Police have defused a Second World War bomb in Kreuzberg, Berlin, meaning 11,500 people who were evacuated on Friday morning are free to return to their homes.

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Road and traffic closures which were in force during the operation to defuse the 250 kg bomb have also been lifted.

The evacuation of the district around Lindenstrasse began at 9 am in the hip inner-city neighbourhood.

A picture posted by police on Twitter at midday showed the bomb, half submerged in sand.

Police had announced on Twiiter that they would only start to defuse the weapon, which was found on Wednesday, once the area had been completely evacuated.

On Sunday another Second World War bomb was defused after it was unearthed at the same building site. A similar amount of people were evacuated at the time.

It is very common to find unexploded bombs from the Second World War during excavations in Germany's largest urban areas.

Around 54 tonnes of left-over munitions were made safe in Berlin alone in 2014 and there are believed to be thousands more bombs strewn around the city.

Similar incidents in Munich and Cologne have also led to mass evacuations this year.

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