Berlin, Jan 31 (IANS): Bomb disposal experts successfully detonated a 250 kg World War-II bomb in a western Germany city after about 5,000 people were evacuated late Thursday evening, a city spokesman said.

The bomb was found Thursday in Cologne during construction work near the Uni-Centre, a 45-storey apartment building housing about 2,000 people, reported Xinhua.

Because of the tricky construction of the fuse, bomb disposal experts had to opt for a controlled detonation of the bomb, and residents within a radius of 300 metres of the site were evacuated.

Media reports said another World War-II bomb was successfully defused almost at the same time in Neuss, about 40 km northwest of Cologne. More than 1,800 people were evacuated.

Thousands of unexploded bombs are still believed to be buried in Germany.

On Jan 3, a construction worker manning a digger was killed when he accidentally struck a bomb during excavation work in Euskirchen in Germany's western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.