20 000 evacuated after World War II bomb discovery in Germany

Cologne - About 20,000 people were evacuated on Wednesday in the west German city of Cologne after a 1 000kg bomb dating back to World War II was discovered in the city's north-east.

The inhabitants of a retirement home and a home for disabled people had to be evacuated, and the zoo and local schools were closed after the unexploded ordinance was found during maintenance work on an underground heating system.

The bomb is expected to be defused in the afternoon. In the meantime, road, rail, boat and air traffic in the region have been blocked.

Finding unexploded Nazi-era bombs is an almost regular occurence in Germany, where millions of tons of bombs were dropped towards the end of World War II by Allied and Soviet Forces.