Indian parliament evacuated after bomb threat
From Meerza Iqbal Baig

NEW DELHI—India’s parliament was evacuated after intelligence authorities received warnings of a bomb attack that turned out to be a hoax.
Members of parliament and their staff were ordered to leave after an e-mail warning was received by India’s intelligence agency and the US embassy, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said on Friday. “The message said that at 11.45 am (0615 GMT), the Indian parliament will be blown up,” Patil told lawmakers of both houses after parliament reconvened in mid-afternoon.
“Though we have received such information before, we decided not to take any chances and took appropriate action,” he said. Hundreds of security personnel scoured the sprawling complex twice with sniffer dogs and explosive detection equipment before MPs were given the all-clear to return, Patil said. “The police and bomb squads said it (the parliament complex) was clean,” Patil told lawmakers.
Both houses had adjourned “after intelligence agencies received a tip-off about some definite information about outfits planning to have bomb blasts,” said Anand Sharma, spokesman for the ruling Congress party, earlier in the day. The scare came just over four years after Islamic militants staged a deadly raid on India’s parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-backed rebels. Pakistan denied any involvement in the attack, which brought the nuclear-armed nations close to a fourth war.