UN security stepped up after bomb threat

Security was stepped up at the United Nations headquarters in New York today as a precaution following a bomb threat, a spokesman said.

“The New York Police Department received an unconfirmed bomb threat so the UN stepped up security as a precautionary measure,” said UN associate spokesman Farhan Haq.

According to a UN diplomat, the US Customs and Immigration Service received an anonymous phone call saying a taxi would arrive at UN headquarters at 10am local time with two backpacks filled with grenades. The threat was relayed to New York police, said the diplomat.

Just before 10am, a line of about 10 New York City police cars, their lights flashing, were on First Avenue just outside UN headquarters, which overlooks the East River. At UN entrances, security staff were checking the bags of all UN staff. Sniffer dogs, permanently based there, were also on patrol.

By early afternoon, no incident had been reported.

The UN’s landmark 39-storey headquarters building was reported to be a terrorist target following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre. The United Nations and former Secretary-General Kofi Annan have been condemned by Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001, suicide hijackings.

The UN’s headquarters was evacuated after the 2001 terrorist attacks, and again the following day, and mail delivery was halted for several weeks in the fall of 2001 because of an anthrax threat.