Serbian city evacuated for removal of 1,000-Kg NATO bomb from 1999

Nis: Over a thousand residents were evacuated from a neighbourhood in the southern Serbian city of Nis as experts successfully removed a leftover bomb from the 1999 NATO bombing campaign.

The 1,000-kilo MK-84 bomb was extracted from a construction site in Nis, stated an interior ministry official. "It is being transported to a safe location where it will be destroyed," official Luka Causic informed reporters.

Prior to the bomb's removal, authorities evacuated 1,300 residents from the vicinity to ensure their safety. A team comprising police, firefighters, and medical personnel was present during the transportation to guarantee a secure operation.

The MK-84 bomb contained an explosive charge weighing 430 kilograms, as noted by Causic.

NATO initiated its bombing campaign against Serbia on March 24, 1999, without the endorsement of the UN Security Council. The bombings, lasting for 78 days, were aimed at halting Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's violent suppression of ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo.

Nis experienced some of the most devastating consequences of the NATO campaign.

On May 7, 1999, a NATO airstrike hit a crowded central market with cluster bombs, resulting in the deaths of more than a dozen civilians. This incident was subsequently acknowledged as a "blunder". Additionally, the city was targeted again on May 12 of the same year, leading to the deaths of 11 civilians due to cluster bomb attacks.