Hoax bomb threat causes panic in New Delhi (Roundup)

Sep 8, 2009, 11:00 GMT

   New Delhi - Police in the Indian capital swung into action Tuesday after an anonymous caller said there were bombs at four crowded locales, but the threats turned out to be a hoax.

   'We received two calls at around 10 am where an unknown caller said bombs had been planted at the Safdarjang Hospital and two other places. But intense combing operations yielded nothing and it seems to have been mischievous calls,' an official at the Delhi police control room said.

   Bomb-disposal squads and sniffer dogs were immediately deployed at the places identified - the Safdarjang Hospital, the New Delhi Municipal Corporation office near Connaught Place and Vikas Minar near the busy ITO crossing.

   Ambulances and fire engines were kept on standby as the bomb disposal squads combed through the buildings.

   Several floors of the main building at Safdarjang Hospital and the multistorey municipal building were evacuated.

   'The caller possibly wanted to spread panic. The identity has not yet been established. We are investigating the matter,' Delhi assistant commissioner of police Shankar Dass said.

   Busy markets in Delhi were targets of terrorist bombings in 2005 and 2008.