3 World War II bombs defused in a German city's biggest evacuation since the end of the war

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.

The bombs were unearthed on Monday during preparatory work for road construction. City authorities said that the discovered unexploded ordnances were two American 20-ton bombs and one American 10-ton bomb, each with impact fuses.

More than 20,000 residents were evacuated Wednesday from the city center. Experts defused the bombs within about an hour, city authorities said in a statement.