Large area of Berlin center evacuated for WWII bomb disposal

BERLIN — Berlin police evacuate thousands of people from a central area of the German capital Friday and shut down the main train station in preparation for the removal of an unexploded World War II bomb found during recent construction work.

Some 10,000 residents and workers are being forced to leave a two-square-kilometer (almost a square mile) area, including the train station, while bomb experts defuse the 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) British bomb dropped during the war.

Trains are prevented from stopping at the busy station from 10 a.m., and through traffic is being shut down at 11:30 a.m. before experts begin their work, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said.

Rail traffic is tentatively planned to resume at about 1 p.m. but it’s not clear yet how long the bomb disposal operation will take. Some 300,000 travelers use the station daily, according to Deutsche Bahn.

The evacuation area, a circle around the construction site north of the train station where the bomb was discovered during digging, also includes a hospital, the main office of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, and parts of both the economy and transportation ministries.

Even 73 years after the end of the war, such discoveries remain common in major German cities.

— AP