Europe, Bomb | featured news

Nearly 3,000 residents were evacuated from the heart of Munich on Tuesday before explosives experts detonated the remains of an undetonated, 550-pound World War II bomb, Andy Eckardt of NBC News reports. Bales of straw which had been placed around the bomb to cushion the shock of the detonation were set ablaze and thrown through the air by the detonation, according to the European Pressphoto Agency. Some of them landed on the roofs of neighboring buildings and ignited fires.

Holland's Ministry of Defense scrambled two military fighter jets to escort a Spanish passenger plane amid fears that the aircraft might have been hijacked, but the airline involved denied any trouble, saying the incident was the result of failed communications between the crew and the control tower... Part of Schiphol was already evacuated Wednesday after workers unearthed a suspected World War II bomb near the airport's main terminal.

A letter bomb exploded Friday at an office of Italy's tax collection agency, slightly wounding the organization's director.

Officials in Germany’s western city of Koblenz say some 45,000 residents have to be evacuated as officials try to defuse a World War II era bomb discovered in the Rhine river. City officials said Saturday the massive British 1.8 ton bomb will be defused early Sunday, requiring all residents within a radius of about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the bomb site to leave their homes for the day.

Norway began burying the dead on Friday, a week after an anti-immigrant extremist killed 76 people in a bombing and shooting rampage. Mourners of all ages vowed they would not let the massacre threaten their nation’s openness and democracy. An 18-year-old Muslim girl was the first victim to be laid to rest since the gunman opened fire at a political youth camp and bombed the government headquarters in Oslo.

The 32-year-old man accused of devastating twin attacks in Norway now maintains that two cells of extremists collaborated with him, court officials said here Monday as they ordered solitary confinement for the suspect. The police also significantly reduced the confirmed death toll in the Friday attacks to 76 instead of 93 — still one of the worst mass killings in postwar Europe.

Greek police said they had intercepted a booby-trapped parcel addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, after another package exploded at a courier company in Athens injuring a member of staff.

The Eiffel Tower and the park around it were evacuated Tuesday night after a bomb alert, police said.

German authorities have shut down Berlin's main international airport after construction workers discovered a World War II bomb there.

Spain blocked planes and ships from leaving the resort island of Mallorca on Thursday as authorities hunted suspects in a bombing that killed two police officers.