a bomb threat forced the evacuation of india)s parliament on friday, but the all-clear was sounded after police using search dogs failed to find any explosives, ap reported.. about an hour after the alarm was raised, home minister shivraj patil said the officers who are in charge of security have checked the building and they have told me there is nothing to worry about. he called the evacuation of parliament, which suffered a suicide attack four years ago, a precautionary measure, and added that parliament would reconvene at 3 p.m. (1030 gmt). there were differing reports of what prompted the evacuation ? indian media said authorities were alerted by an e-mail sent to the u.s. embassy, but a police officer at the scene, dev dotte, said parliament staff received an anonymous phone call warning of a bomb in the building and that dogs and police bomb squads were used to search the building. patil said the warning of the bomb had come from the southern city of madras, also known as chennai, and that authorities were examining where this information actually originated from. he did not elaborate. in december 2001, a suicide attack on parliament left 14 people dead. new delhi blamed pakistan)s spy agency and severed diplomatic ties with islamabad, cut travel links and moved hundreds of thousands of troops to their border. pakistan denied the charges, but matched india)s moves. the two countries were talked back from the brink of war through intensive diplomatic efforts. after the alert was issued friday, both houses of parliament were adjourned and indian lawmakers, including prime minister manmohan singh, and their staffs were asked to leave the building. witnesses said people were seen running from parliament, and soldiers patrolled the grounds around the circular structure. sirens were also heard blaring near parliament. i was working on my computer when people started running, saying there was a bomb in the building, said asif mohammad, a computer programmer in parliament)s upper house. all the (lawmakers) and staff were asked to evacuate by the security staff. he had heard an unclaimed bag had been found at one of the building)s gates. -- spa
