Army experts work to disarm huge WWII London bomb as residents face being homeless for weekend

Residents in a north London suburb face being forced out of their homes for the weekend as explosive experts try to disarm a 500lb Second World War bomb.

An army team was called in after builders found the huge bomb buried at a construction site in Queen’s Park.

The bomb was discovered on Thursday afternoon and schools and properties were subsequently evacuated, with some residents sleeping the night in a nearby church.

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The army team worked through the night and created an exclusion zone which could be widened later on Friday as the team work to disable the Nazi device.

The team, from the from the Royal Engineers and Logistics Corps, were thought to be constructing a blast protection layer around the device.

That had to be put in place first before they work on dismantling the bomb.

The construction site was being prepared for building new flats.

“The Army’s Royal Engineer bomb disposal experts continue to work through the night with the emergency services and partner agencies in Brent where an unexploded German WW2 bomb was discovered yesterday,” an Army spokesman said.

“The soldiers are constructing a blast protection layer around the device before they can begin work on rendering it safe.”

According to the lcoal council = Brent – work on the site is expected to continue until at least Friday afternoon.

British Red Cross volunteers have been drafted in to support locals.

Scotland Yard said it was called to The Avenue, near Brondesbury Park, at around 11.30am.

Superintendent Nigel Quantrell said: “I can assure you that we are working very hard to resolve the situation. The public’s understanding and co-operation is deeply appreciated.”

London was heavily bombed in World War Two during the “Blitz”, where German planes carried out numerous air raids on the capital between September 1940 and May 1941.

The Luftwaffe bombed London for 56 out of 57 days and nights from September 1940.

Up to 43,000 civilians were killed and a similar amount injured.

Hundreds of thousands of bombs were dropped by the Germans and it is not known how many are undiscovered, though most are found by builders working on cosntruction sites.