Rome, Feb 2 (AFP) A Venice port area was evacuated on Sunday as a World War II-era bomb was defused and later exploded at sea.

The operation in the port of Marghera, a mostly industrial area separated from the tourist city by water, required the evacuation of about 3,500 residents in the early morning.

Boat, train and bus traffic was all halted during the operation and planes were prohibited from flying to and from Marco Polo Airport from 8:30am (0730GMT) until 12:30 pm.

The bomb, which weighed about 225 kilos (500 pounds) and contained about 129 kilos of TNT, was discovered during an excavation to fix sewer lines in January.

By mid-morning, the first two phases of the operation -- the evacuation of residents, and the process of stripping the fuses from the bombs, had been successfully completed, authorities said.

Gianluca Dello Monacco, commander of the Army regiment that carried out the work, told Rai24 the precautions were justified.

"It still carried a high risk of explosion," Dello Monacco said.

The city of Venice said later that a controlled explosion had been carried out.

"When the bomb reached the open sea, plastic explosive charges were applied to the device, which were detonated underwater by divers..." a statement said. (AFP)

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