Bomb threat at the US embassy

POLICE were last night searching the area surrounding the American embassy in Nicosia for explosives after a bomb threat was received by three local television stations.

At around 10.20pm, an unknown person telephoned Sigma, Logos and Antenna, claiming they had planted a bomb in the vicinity of the embassy, police said.

The area around the building, in the suburb of Engomi, was immediately cordoned off, and combed by dozens of Special Branch officers with sniffer dogs.

Checks were still ongoing at midnight, but police told the Cyprus Mailthat the call was thought to be a hoax. Police could not say whether the embassy building had been evacuated.

The US embassy has in recent months been the target of regular demonstrations by anti-Nato protesters, angry at the alliance’s air war against Yugoslavia. It was not clear last night if the caller had given any motive for the threat.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.