A major road in Axminster has been closed after an air-dropped German bomb was found in a garden.
Royal Navy bomb disposal team and police were called to a residential property in Alexandra Road in Axminster, East Devon, at 9:15am today.
The Southern Dive Unit from Plymouth Royal Naval base in Devonport, were called by police after a home owner discovered the air-dropped German bomb when gardening.
The unexploded device was found by someone digging in their garden, say police.
Officers have evacuated six homes in the surrounding area as a precaution, and erected a 200 metre cordon around the property where the device was found.
The explosive was largely inert and harmless because the detonator and fuse were missing. However, a spokesman for the bomb disposal team said: "The householder did the right thing by calling police because although this mostly harmless, if it was set fire to then the explosive remaining could have been dangerous and caused injury. We always urge the public who find suspicious items they suspect might be bombs or flares or other ordnance to call police and not to handle.''
Today's find was an incendiary dropped on buildings in large numbers by German warplanes designed to set fire to property, It weighs 1kg and measures about 12 inches by two inches. The bomb will be disposed of safely.
The Highways Agency have also been called to close the A358 between the A35 and Musbury Road.
