HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong Police Force on Saturday morning defused the unexploded World War II bomb discovered at a construction site in the Eastern District, according to a police briefing.

The Police said that the site and its surroundings are now safe enough for evacuated residents to return, and all blocked roads had been reopened.

Despite a rain delay, the Police managed to cut a hole in the shell and burn the 500 pounds of TNT explosives inside, a high-stakes operation given the power of the bomb, said Suryanto Chin-chiu, senior bomb disposal officer of the Police's explosive ordnance disposal bureau.

To dispose of the aerial bomb, which is 1.5 meters long and weighs about 1,000 pounds, the Police had evacuated around 6,000 people in surrounding buildings by 11 pm on Friday. Some of them spent the night at community centers with assistance from care teams and District Council members.