Over 6,000 affected by disposal of unexploded bomb in German city

An unexploded US-made bomb has been discovered in the city centre of Aachen, near Germany’s borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, during construction work, local authorities said on Wednesday.

Even more than 80 years after the end of World War II, it remains common for bombs from the conflict to be discovered in Germany. The city did not specify whether the 250-kilogram aerial bomb was a leftover from WWII. Aachen was heavily bombed in 1944.

The bomb was set to be defused on Thursday. The city said that an area with a 400-metre radius around the discovery site would be evacuated starting at 9 am (0800 GMT). Around 6,200 people are affected. Emergency accommodation was set up for residents.

The city’s main railway station was set to be shut between around 9 am and 4 pm as it sits in the evacuation area, according to the portal zuginfo.nrw. There will not be any replacement buses serving the station.

The aerial bomb was expected to be defused early on Thursday afternoon, the city said.

World War II or the Second World War begun on 1 September 1939  and lasted until 2 September 1945 was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers.

Nearly all of the world’s countries participated, with many nations mobilising their resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war.

World War II is the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of over 60 million people. Millions died  by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were put on trial for war crimes.

World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland, after which the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany.