(Belgrade) A World War I artillery grenade weighing nearly 300 kilograms was removed from a construction site near the Serbian parliament in Belgrade on Sunday, police said.
The bomb was then transported to a large sandy area 60 kilometres east of the Serbian capital where it was safely destroyed, a police spokesman said.
“Some 130 police officers took part in the operation,” Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said just before the bomb was removed.
Police had earlier ordered residents in the area to remove their vehicles from the area of operation, also advising them to leave their homes if possible.
The grenade was discovered on September 18 during construction work on an underground garage near the Serbian parliament in central Belgrade.
According to Mr. Dačić, it was an artillery piece used by the Austro-Hungarian army during the siege of Belgrade. “It weighs 287 kilograms [633 livres]measures 113 centimeters long and has a diameter of 30.5 centimeters,” he said.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR OF SERBIA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Belgrade was one of the first major cities targeted by a major power during World War I.
Belgrade was one of the first major cities targeted by a major power in World War I. Austria-Hungary bombarded the city on July 29, 1914, one day after declaring war on Serbia.
In recent years, several bombs from past conflicts have been discovered in Serbia. All of them contained explosive materials, which were defused without any problems according to the authorities.
In April, a 1,000-kilogram (2,205-pound) bomb dropped by NATO in 1999 was discovered in Nis (south).
And in 2021, a 242-kilogram (534-pound) World War II bomb was removed from a construction site in a Belgrade suburb.