The Indian embassy in the United States of America has received a bomb threat call on Tuesday (GMT) alerting the security personnel.  Following the hoax bomb call, the security asked officials to vacate the premises temporarily and found out nothing.  At the same time, they have also searched the residence of Indian Ambassador to US, Nirupama Rao. Notably, Nirupama Rao was not present at Washington when this call was received.  However, there were over 100 persons at the embassy and were reportedly safe. 

Once the embassy came to conclusion that it was just a threatening call, the State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland briefed the media about the same. She has said that appropriate law enforcement personnel plunged into the action immediately to ensure that no untoward incident takes place. 

According to Victoria, the person who gave the threat call said that the bomb was placed above the toilet and all three offices—the Chancery, the ambassador’s residence and Visa office were cleared promptly.   Immediately after evacuation, we informed the bomb squad and they checked, and found nothing, she added.  She has also said that an investigation is now underway to trace out the fake caller. Meanwhile, roads leading to the embassy were kept closed as a precautionary measure.

When asked whether this action would give rise to extra security, Victoria said that they would check whether security posture was adequate. (Phani)