The discovery of a World War II-era bomb forced the partial evacuation of the Sternschanze nightlife district in the German city of Hamburg late Saturday.

More than 5,000 people were evacuated to safety from the 300-meter (984-foot) exclusion zone, fire officials said. Police also cleared restaurants and bars in the area.

Residents within a 500-meter warning radius were told not to stay outside, to keep windows and doors closed, and to move to rooms away from the danger zone.

Shortly after midnight local time (2200 GMT Saturday), the fire department, which had been called in for a major operation, said on social media that the bomb had been defused.

The discovery of the bomb also disrupted rail traffic, as the Sternschanze S-Bahn station, which is particularly busy on weekends, was also in the evacuated area.

Bomb defused without complications

Early Sunday, Hamburg police said the fire department's measures were gradually being lifted.

The bomb was found during construction work on the grounds of a primary school.

According to a final statement from the fire department, the defusing itself took only about 30 minutes and went without complications.

Germany is accustomed to finding unexploded World War II munitions from Allied and Soviet bombing campaigns. Most are defused without incident by bomb disposal experts.

On Saturday, a World War II-era bomb in Cologne prompted a massive evacuation. After the evacuation of numerous residential buildings and several clinics in the city, the US bomb discovered on Wednesday was detonated in a controlled manner.

dh/wd (AFP, dpa)

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