Cyprus seals off Israel embassy in suspect car alert

Reuters, Israel ^ | 4-16-02 | Michele Kambas Nicosia

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Cyprus seals off Israel embassy in suspect car alert

    NICOSIA, April 16 (Reuters) - Cypriot police on Tuesday 
sealed off the Israeli embassy in Nicosia after a car abandoned 
in a busy street close to the building roused suspicions, 
authorities said. 
    Police saw two young men park their vehicle on a 
thoroughfare about 100 metres (yards) away from the 
heavily-guarded embassy and abandon it on foot. 
    "They were foreigners. We are trying to locate them now," 
the duty officer at police headquarters told Reuters.  
    A bomb disposal squad was had been summoned to the area and 
traffic was diverted. 
    The incident occurred as women's groups protested close to 
the embassy over Israel's incursions into West Bank towns. 
    Three people were killed when a booby trapped car blew up in 
the same area in 1988, after a failed attempt by the driver to 
park it directly outside the Israeli embassy. 
 ((Michele Kambas Nicosia newsroom 357 22469607 fax 357 
22662487))   CONTINUE...

[Oldeconomybuyer]

UPDATE 1 - Alert called off near Israel embassy in Cyprus

 (Adds alert called off) 
    NICOSIA, April 16 (Reuters) - Cypriot police on Tuesday 
briefly sealed off the Israeli embassy in Nicosia after a car 
abandoned in a busy street close to the building roused 
suspicions, authorities said. 
    Police saw two young men park their vehicle on a 
thoroughfare about 100 metres (yards) away from the heavily 
guarded embassy and abandon it on foot. 
    A bomb disposal squad summoned to the area found nothing 
suspicious and the road was reopened for traffic, a police 
spokesman said.  
    "There was nothing to get worried about," he said. 
    The youths, who security sources said may have been illegal 
foreign workers alarmed at the sight of police, were wanted for 
questioning. 
    The incident occurred as women's groups protested close to 
the embassy over Israel's incursions into West Bank towns. 
    Three people were killed when a booby trapped car blew up in 
the same area in 1988, after a failed attempt by the driver to 
park it directly outside the Israeli embassy. 
 ((Michele Kambas Nicosia newsroom 357 22469607 fax 357 
22662487)) 
 
16 APR 2002 18:37:19