1,000-pound American-made WWII bomb discovered at Belgrade construction site

A 1,000-pound aerial bomb used by U.S. and allied forces during World War II was safely removed Sunday from a construction site in a central neighborhood of the Serbian capital, Belgrade, police said.

The American-made AN-M44 bomb was used in air raids on German positions during the liberation of Belgrade from Nazi occupation in 1944.

Before the bomb was removed, the site, located near a residential area and a shopping center, was subject to detailed reconnaissance “to ensure security conditions”, police said.

Residents were also asked to leave their homes if possible.

After its removal, the bomb was transported to a military training ground about 180 kilometers from Belgrade, where it will be destroyed in the coming days.

Unexploded bombs from past wars have been discovered in Serbia and around the world in recent years.

In September 2024, a century-old artillery shell weighing nearly 660 pounds was removed from a construction site near the Serbian parliament in Belgrade.

Earlier that year, in April, a large bomb from the 1999 NATO bombing campaign was discovered in Nis, southern Serbia.

In 2021, a 530-pound World War II-era bomb was also removed from a construction site in suburban Belgrade.

Earlier this year, in January, more than 170 World War II bombs were discovered under a children’s playground in the north of England. Officials said they believed more ordinances would be discovered in Wooler, Northumberland.

In June, three Unexploded American bombs from World War II defused in Cologne, Germany. They were discovered during preparatory work for the construction of a road.

In Bratislava, the Slovak capital, a 500-pound World War II bomb discovered during construction work in September, triggering widespread evacuations. A few weeks later, an American-made bomb was defused in Hong Kong after being discovered at a construction site in Quarry Bay, a bustling residential and commercial district in the west of Hong Kong Island. The bomb was nearly five feet long.