On Tuesday, after evacuating thousands of citizens, Singapore army specialists exploded a 100-kilogram (220-pound) World War II-era bomb they had discovered at a construction site.
The controlled detonation, which local media stated was the largest-ever drill involving a WWII artifact in Singapore, required the evacuation of over 4,000 people from neighboring homes.
According to authorities, the unexploded aerial bomb was found last week where a condominium was being constructed in the city's northeastern suburb of Bukit Timah.
On Tuesday morning, the first of several explosions was set off by bomb disposal specialists as a mushroom cloud loomed on the horizon.
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An AFP journalist reported that military personnel were spotted erecting sandbags to contain the blast before it was supposed to go off.
Soldiers moved the bomb from the scene of its discovery into the area surrounded by sandbags where charges had been brought.
A 200-meter (yard) cordon around the site kept locals at a distance as the bomb was set off when the surrounding streets were devoid of vehicles.
Residents had been advised to stay away from the area by police, despite the loud explosion.
According to local media, the device most likely held 47 kg of explosives, sufficient to demolish an apartment building.
On December 8, 1941, the day following Tokyo's attack on the US Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which prompted Washington to enter the war, Japanese bombers struck Singapore, a British territory.
Before Japanese troops arrived on the island on February 8 and took control of it after a week of warfare that resulted in the British defenders of Singapore's capitulation, the bombings increased in intensity in January 1942.
Unexploded bombs have occasionally been found in the city-state's limited amount of land.
More than 100 people were evacuated from adjoining shophouses in April 2021 when a construction worker found a projectile he thought to be a war relic. This was reported in the Straits Times newspaper.
In December 2020, a housing building site contained another unexploded weapon, according to the publication.
