LONDON -- Thousands of people were evacuated from the center of the east German city of Dresden on Wednesday, as authorities there prepared to detonate a World War II bomb discovered near one of the bridges spanning the Elbe River.

The British World War II bomb discovered in Dresden during demolition work has been defused, police in the eastern German city announced on Wednesday. Earlier some 17,000 people had to be evacuated from the area surrounding Dresden's Carola bridge following the discovery on Tuesday of the bomb during demolition work on the bridge,

Around 80 years after the war, Germany remains littered with unexploded bombs, often uncovered during construction work.