Army Experts Detonate WWII Wembley Bomb

Army bomb disposal experts have safely detonated a World War Two device found near Wembley Stadium.

The explosive was detonated by experts just after 5pm at an unspecified location in Bedfordshire, according to Bedfordshire Police.

Weighing 50kg, the bomb is thought to have been dropped during Nazi raids in the early 1940s and was unearthed by builders working near the stadium on Thursday.

It triggered the evacuation of around 300 homes and businesses, including the studio in which Britain's Got Talent is filmed, outside a 400m police cordon.

Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Mickey Gallagher said more than 70 people had been looked after at an evacuation centre.

During the operation, he said: "Although it doesn't seem like a massive bomb... It does pose a very real threat."

Royal Logistic Corps disposal teams from Northolt and Ashchurch excavated the Luftwaffe Sprengbombe-Cylindrisch general purpose bomb.

Royal Engineers also built a blast wall around the site in order to limit the damage of an accidental explosion.

An Army spokesman said the team was "very well experienced", adding: "They've dealt with Improvised Explosive Devices in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland, which are much more complex than Second World War munitions."

Wembley bosses have said the bomb will not affect crucial Football League play-off finals due to be played at the stadium this weekend.

In a tweet from the official Wembley account, they said: "This weekend's games remain unaffected & we look forward to welcoming supporters of all six @football_league Play-Off finalists to #Wembley".

Chief Supt Gallagher said preparations for this weekend's Britain's Got Talent show had been disrupted, but he hoped that the event would still be able to go ahead as planned on Saturday.

In March, a 250kg bomb was found in Bermondsey, southeast London, before being taken to a quarry in Kent to be destroyed once it had been defused.

German wartime bombs uniquely have their fuses on the side, rather than in the tail or nose, where fuses are located on more modern devices.