Indian embassy in Washington resumes work after bomb threat

Washington, April 11 (IANS) The Indian embassy in Washington has resumed its normal work after a search of its facilities by local security authorities following an anonymous bomb threat turned up no explosive device.

The embassy was evacuated after it received an anonymous telephone call at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday that there was a bomb threat at the embassy premises, the Indian mission said in a media release.

"This was immediately conveyed to the local security authorities for necessary inspection of the embassy," it said. "The security authorities arrived promptly and conducted a thorough on-site inspection of the building and concluded that there were no findings to suggest any bomb threat."

Indian ambassador Nirupama Rao was not in Washington when the bomb threat call was received.

Earlier, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters "I can confirm that there was a bomb threat at the Indian embassy in Washington" and "appropriate law enforcement personnel responded immediately."

She said the chancery, ambassador's residence and the visa office -- the Indian mission's official locations in the US capital -- were "evacuated and checked for bombs," but she added "no device was located."

Nuland said there would be an investigation into the source of the threat and an evaluation of what happened to decide whether the security at the Indian mission needed to be stepped up.

"I would guess that part of our evaluation going forward in terms of what happened will be to determine whether the security posture is adequate," she said.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)