RENNES (France), Aug 12 — Some 1,800 people were ordered to evacuate their homes in northwest France on today as a bomb squad defused a British bomb from World War II, officials said.

The 220-kilogramme bomb was found in late June during construction work near the centre of Rouen in Normandy.

Residents living within a 270-metre radius of the site were told to leave the area early Sunday ahead of the operation, which wound up shortly after 11:00 am (0900 GMT).

Discoveries of bombs and shells from World War II are common in France and elsewhere on the continent.

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Last month, the French navy defused an unexploded shell found in the sea near a popular beach in Cannes on the Mediterranean coast.

In May, nearly 9,000 people had to be evacuated after a bomb was uncovered in Dresden, Germany, a city which was heavily bombed toward the end of the war. — AFP