300-kilo WWI bomb removed in Belgrade

By AFP
September 23, 2024
A handout photo distributed on September 22, 2024, by the Ministry of the Interior of Serbia, shows a special police unit officer near an unexploded 300-kilo WWI artillery round at a construction site near the Serbian Parliament in Belgrade. — AFP
A handout photo distributed on September 22, 2024, by the Ministry of the Interior of Serbia, shows a special police unit officer near an unexploded 300-kilo WWI artillery round at a construction site near the Serbian Parliament in Belgrade. — AFP

BELGRADE: A century-old artillery round weighing nearly 300 kilogrammes, was safely removed on Sunday from a construction site near the Serbian Parliament in Belgrade, police said.

The 305mm “Morser M.11” howitzer shell, found last Wednesday, was used by the Austro-Hungarian army during the July 1914 siege of the capital during World War I, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic ahead of the removal operation. Police had ordered nearby residents to remove their vehicles from the area and urged them to be cautious, advising to leave homes if possible. The shell was sent to a sandy terrain about 60-kms from Belgrade, where it was destroyed.