Singapore World War II bomb destroyed thousands of residents evacuated

Singapore: World War II bomb destroyed, thousands of residents evacuated

Thousands of Singapore residents were forced to flee their homes on Tuesday when bomb disposal experts detonated a World War II bomb as the former British colony was bombed by Japanese planes.

The device, which weighs 100 kilograms, was discovered last week during construction work in the northeast of the city state, the police said.

Demolition squads detonated the device on site because the bomb was too dangerous to transport. A security perimeter was set up and more than 4,000 residents of the densely populated area were forced to temporarily leave their homes.

Singapore, then a British colony, was bombed by Japanese aircraft on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to destroy the American fleet in the Pacific.

From January 1942 the bombing raids intensified.

In early February, Japanese troops invaded the area after a week of fighting against British soldiers.