The German city of Cologne has finished evacuating 20,500 people, its largest evacuation order since World War II, after officials defused three massive, unexploded bombs.

Authorities in the German city of Cologne have defused three unexploded World War Two bombs after the evacuation of more than 20,000 people. Bomb squad technicians deactivated the American bombs on Wednesday after evacuating an area of around 10,000 sq m (107,639 sq ft) following their discovery in a shipyard in Deutz on Monday.

Three unexploded U.S. bombs from World War II were defused on Wednesday in Cologne after the German city's biggest evacuation since the end of the war.