Pakistan airports on red alert after bomb threat

PAKISTAN: Pakistan placed all airports on red alert Thursday after a telephone caller warned of a suicide bomb threat to Islamabad’s international airport, officials said.

Passengers were briefly evacuated from the capital’s Benazir Bhutto airport while security officials searched the area, but all flights were operating as normal, they said.

The security boost comes just days after a massive suicide truck bombing at the Marriott Hotel in the capital on Saturday left 60 people dead and more than 260 wounded.

“We have raised the security level to red alert. It was already on high alert but after the bomb threat in Islamabad we stepped it up,” senior airport security force official Mohammad Irfan told AFP.

British Airways cancelled its six weekly flights to Islamabad earlier this week, citing security reasons.

In Islamabad, officials said security had been massively stepped up at the entrance and exit gates after a caller made a specific warning about an attack on the airport on Thursday.

“The airport received a telephone threat that a bomb could go off inside the building about midday,” Islamabad airport official Mohammad Malik told AFP.

“Passengers were evacuated for a short time for debriefing on measures that security forces were taking because of the threat but then they were allowed to return. But there was no delay to flights,” Malik said.

Road traffic to the airport was suspended for a short time.

ISLAMABAD, Thursday, AFP