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Police ‘knew in advance’ about nightclub blast

Police had been warned that a bomb would be detonated in a busy nightclub in central Sweden on Sunday, yet chose not to act in the hope of catching the attacker red-handed, according to a police source.

Police 'knew in advance' about nightclub blast

“They gambled with people’s lives to catch the thief red-handed,” the source told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

The bomb, which exploded just after midnight on Saturday night, resulted in the evacuation of the Blue Moon Bar in Västerås, and left close to 700 party goers standing out on the streets without their jackets.

“We were on the dance floor and saw one of the security guards rushing to the DJ, and the music was quickly turned off,” one witness told The Local following the blast.

“None of us heard the explosion as the music was so loud inside.”

No one was injured in the blast which occurred on the outdoor terraced area, yet glass shattered and a nearby hotel was also evacuated.

According to the paper’s source, the bomb was supposed to explode after 2am when the bar was closed.

“For some reason they’ve chosen not to react. It’s as if they have taken a chance and hoped to catch the perpetrators in the act. It probably could have been avoided, it’s just lucky that it went the way it did.”

Åsa Hedin of the Västmanlands police has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations, and told the paper that the investigation is still underway,

“It’s difficult for us to comment in detail about what we currently know and don’t know right now,” she said.

TT/The Local/og

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BOMB

WWII bomb found in Frankfurt safely detonated after mass evacuation

A massive World War II bomb found in Germany's financial capital Frankfurt was safely detonated in the early hours of Thursday, the city's fire service said, allowing tens of thousands of evacuated residents to return to their homes.

WWII bomb found in Frankfurt safely detonated after mass evacuation
Experts stand on mountains of sand, which were put in place to soften the force of the explosion of the WWII bomb in Frankfurt's Nordend. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Frank Rumpenhorst

The 500-kilogram unexploded bomb was unearthed during construction work on Wednesday in the densely populated Nordend area of the city, a location firefighters said made it a “particular challenge” to remove.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper reported the ordnance had been discovered right next to a children’s playground at a depth of about two metres (6.5 feet).

READ ALSO: What you need to know about WWII bomb disposals in Germany

Its report said the controlled blast, which happened just after midnight, “sounded like thunder rumbling” and left a hole three metres deep and ten metres wide.

Firefighters said that they had covered the bomb with 40 truckloads of sand before detonating it, in order to minimise damage to the surrounding buildings.

Around 25,000 people had been asked to evacuate the area, including the occupants of a nearby community hospital’s neonatal ward.

Among residents who took shelter at a skating rink was 29-year-old Tobias, carrying his pet cat in a cage.

He said he had heard the news over a police loudspeaker and been ordered to leave his home immediately, causing a “bit of stress”.

Barbara, 77, told AFP the news was “a bit of a shock, we don’t expect that”.

However, building works in Germany regularly unearth unexploded World War II ordnance, 76 years after the conflict’s end.

Seven bombs were defused in 2020 on land near Berlin where Tesla plans to build its first factory in Europe for electric cars.  

READ ALSO: WWII bomb in Frankfurt triggers 30m high water fountain

Other bombs were also discovered last year in Frankfurt, Cologne, and Dortmund.

In Frankfurt, the discovery of a 1.4-tonne bomb in 2017 led to the removal of 65,000 people, the biggest such evacuation in Europe since 1945.

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