Mass evacuation ensues after removal of 1,000-Kg NATO bomb from Serbian urban area
PTC News Desk: Efforts were made to safely remove a remnant of the 1999 NATO bombing in Nis, prompting the evacuation of over a thousand residents.
Nis: On Sunday, experts successfully disarmed a 1,000-kilo (2,200-pound) bomb from the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia, which had been left over in a southern Serbian city. This operation prompted the evacuation of more than a thousand residents, according to officials.
The bomb was safely removed from a construction site in the neighborhood of Nis, as confirmed by an interior ministry official, Luka Causic. "It is being transported to a safe location where it will be destroyed," Causic informed reporters.
Prior to the bomb's removal, approximately 1,300 residents from the area where it was discovered were evacuated to ensure their safety, he added. The evacuation process involved the presence of police, firefighters, and medical teams to oversee the safe transportation of the bomb.
Describing the bomb's specifications, Causic mentioned that the MK-84 bomb contained an explosive charge of 430 kilograms.
The NATO bombing of Serbia commenced on March 24, 1999, without the endorsement of the UN Security Council, and continued for 78 days. The primary objective was to halt Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's violent repression of ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo.
One of the most tragic incidents during the campaign occurred in Nis on May 7, 1999, when NATO planes dropped cluster bombs on a crowded central outdoor market, resulting in the deaths of more than a dozen people. This incident was later acknowledged as a "mistake."
Furthermore, the city endured another bombing on May 12 of the same year, also with cluster bombs, which claimed the lives of 11 civilians.
- With inputs from agencies
