Singapore detonates 100kg wartime bomb, more than 4,000 people evacuated

Before the controlled detonation of the bomb, authorities evacuated more than 4,000 people from nearby residential areas, according to AFP. Singaporean media called the detonation the largest-ever exercise involving World War II relics in Singapore.

Police say the unexploded bomb was discovered last week at an apartment building under construction in the northeastern Singapore suburb of Bukit Timah.

A mushroom cloud appeared in the distance this morning as bomb disposal experts carried out the first of a series of explosions.

Singapore kích nổ quả bom 100 kg thời chiến, hơn 4.000 người sơ tán - Ảnh 1. — Smoke rises after a 100 kg World War II bomb exploded at a construction site in Singapore on September 26.

Before the explosion, many people saw soldiers setting up sandbags around the area where the bomb would be detonated to control the explosion.

The surrounding roads are closed to cars and a 200-meter-long fence has been set up around the area to keep locals away during the explosion. Police have warned people not to panic over the huge blast and to stay away from the area.

The bomb that detonated could have contained about 47 kg of explosives, powerful enough to destroy an apartment block, according to Singaporean press.

World War II's most powerful "earthquake" bomb explodes while being defused

Japanese planes first bombed Singapore, then a British colony, on December 8, 1941, a day after Tokyo's attack on the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, pushed Washington into World War II.

Bombings intensified in January 1942 before Japanese troops landed on the island on February 8 and took it after a week of fighting that culminated in the surrender of Singapore's British defenders, according to AFP.

Source link