A World War II bomb found in Hamburg's Schanzenviertel district has been defused.
Police announced on Twitter early on Tuesday morning that the area, a shopping district popular with tourists, was safe again.
Two partial detonations were necessary for the defusing. "The second partial blast was successful. The bomb has been defused. Measures are now being successively scaled back. We wish you a good night!", police tweeted.
According to the fire brigade, about 5,000 people within a radius of 300 metres around the site were evacuated.
The airspace above the site of the discovery was closed, and several suburban train stations were temporarily shut down. An emergency shelter was set up in the nearby district of St Pauli.
The bomb, dropped by the British Air Force in the 1940s, was found during construction work near the Sternschanze light rail station. Residents on the perimeter of the evacuated area were advised to avoid windows and stay in rooms facing away from the site.
This was the second unexploded World War II bomb found in Hamburg within two weeks. Earlier this month, a British bomb was discovered in Wilhelmsburg during excavation work.
