Serbia Removes 1999's 1,000-Kilo NATO Bomb, Evacuates 1,300 People

In a southern Serbian city, experts on Sunday carried out the removal of a bomb left over from the 1999 NATO bombing of the country, which led to the evacuation of more than a thousand residents, officials confirmed.

The 1,000-kilo (2,200-pound) bomb was successfully extracted from a construction site in the neighbourhood of Nis, according to statements made by an interior ministry official, as reported by Hindustan Times citing AFP.

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Serbia Removes 1999's 1,000-Kilo NATO Bomb

"It is being transported to a safe location where it will be destroyed," explained official Luka Causic to reporters. Before the bomb removal operation commenced, approximately 1,300 residents from the area where the bomb was located were evacuated for their safety, he further noted, as reported by Hindustan Times.

To ensure the safe transportation of the bomb, police, firefighters, and medical teams were present during the operation. Providing details about the bomb's specifications, Causic mentioned that the MK-84 bomb has an explosive charge weighing 430 kilograms.

The NATO bombing of Serbia commenced on March 24, 1999, without the endorsement of the UN Security Council and continued for a duration of 78 days. The primary objective of the bombing campaign was to put an end to Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, as per media reports.

Among the tragic incidents during this period, one of the deadliest occurred in Nis on May 7, 1999. Over a dozen people lost their lives when NATO planes dropped cluster bombs on a crowded central outdoor market. This incident was later acknowledged as a "blunder." The city of Nis experienced further bombing on May 12 that same year, resulting in the deaths of 11 civilians due to cluster bomb strikes.