Image provided by the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, from the bomb removal operation on Sunday, December 28, 2025. Credit: Handout / AFP / Profimedia
A World War II aerial bomb weighing 470 kilograms was safely removed Sunday from a construction site in a neighborhood located in the central area of the Serbian capital, according to the announcement made by the police, writes AFP.
The US-made AN-M44 bomb was used during Allied air raids against German positions in the liberation of Belgrade from Nazi occupation in 1944.
Before the bomb was removed, the construction site, which is near a residential area and a shopping center, was thoroughly inspected “to ensure safety,” police said.
Residents in the area were also told to remove vehicles and leave their homes if possible.
The bomb was transported to an army training ground 180 km from Belgrade, where it will be destroyed in the coming days.
It is not the first case of this kind
In recent years, several unexploded bombs dating back to past wars have been discovered in Serbia, all of which were safely removed without detonation.
In September 2024, a century-old artillery shell weighing nearly 300 kilograms was removed from a construction site near the Serbian parliament in Belgrade.
Also last year, in April, a large bomb from the 1999 NATO bombing campaign was found in Nis, southern Serbia.
In 2021, a 242-kilogram bomb from World War II was removed from a construction site in a suburb of Belgrade.
