Bomb disposal experts removed more than 900 unexploded World War II artillery shells from a worksite in northwestern Moscow on Wednesday, an Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman said.

The shells were discovered during utilities maintenance work, including the replacement of underground water pipes. Some 100 residents had to be evacuated from nearby apartment buildings and the area was closed to traffic.

"According to confirmed information, 916 shells were discovered. Forty of them were equipped with detonating fuses," Yevgeny Bobylyov said.

The Defense Ministry said the ammunition could have been planned for delivery to the frontline during the defense of the Russian capital at the time of the Battle of Moscow in 1941 but abandoned when German aviation started bombarding the area.

City authorities say that between 200 and 300 unexploded aviation bombs, artillery shells and other ammunition are found in Moscow each year, mostly in northern and northwestern parts of the city.

MOSCOW, March 17 (RIA Novosti)