Armenian security services alerted the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan at the weekend to what eventually turned out to be a false report about a bomb planted at the diplomatic mission.
“Earlier today, at approximately 12:50pm, the U.S. Embassy was notified by the Armenian Police that they had received a call-in bomb threat targeting the Embassy,” the mission said in a statement on Saturday.
“The Armenian Police, [National Security Service,] and Emergency Services quickly arrived on the scene to ensure there was no threat to the Embassy,” it said. “Based on subsequent information and coordination with the police, the threat appears to groundless.”
“We thank the Armenian authorities for their swift and effective response and are continuing to closely coordinate,” added the statement.
The Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations confirmed the information, saying that its rescuers and bomb experts were among Armenian officers sent to the embassy compound located outside the city center. “No explosive devices were found as a result of the site’s examination,” it said.
The Armenian police and the NSS issued no statements on the bomb alarm. Nor did they report any arrests in the following days.
The bomb threat was reported two days after U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills attended an “appreciation ceremony” at the ministry’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Yerevan. Mills and senior Armenian officials attending the ceremony honored Kansas National Guard engineers who have renovated the center and two Armenian medical institutions as part of U.S.-Armenian military cooperation.
Bomb alarms targeting various government agencies and key public facilities are not uncommon in Armenia. All of them are known to have been bogus to date. Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport and Yerevan State University received such threats in April and March this year respectively.